Harry Potter and the Great Wizarding War
by Frectozhae
Summary: Harry and his brother were always the closest friends growing up. But as they enter the wizarding world, everything is going to change. As they get older, the Dark Lord is preparing his revenge. The Greatest War of them all is coming. Rated T for now
1. Prologue

**A/N : Welcome everybody to my first ever piece of fanfiction. I'll say more at the bottom of the chapter, enjoy ! **

Chapter One

The surprise

The dark night was slowly descending upon the small village of Godrick's Hollow. The inhabitants of the small settlement were enjoying the night of celebration. The wizards could be seen discreetly disillusioned to watch their kids have fun with their friends. The lights of the pumpkins were faintly illuminating the street. The man could barely be seen with his long cape covering his shoulders and hovering an inch of the ground . His hood up, nothing could be seen of his face, except two crazed blood-red eyes.

Voldemort was walking leisurely, taking his time as he knew they couldn't`t escape him now. His targets had finally failed in their last ditch effort for a protection. He could stop a ridiculous prophecy in advance. He just had to murder a child. It wasn't something he wasn't used to do. He found it laughable that a crazy witch could foresee his defeat at the hands of a small baby. A one-year old child who couldn't speak, much less cast any magic whatsoever. Still, he hadn't become arguably the strongest Dark Lord Britain had ever seen by being reckless and ignoring possible threats. After a full year of research, he was finally putting a term to the prophecy. The child would die. His spy in the Potter family had finally paid off, and assured the Dark Lord of his presence.

Lord Voldemort started to be filled with familiar anger. The Potters had escaped him 3 times. Even though they were above average wizards, they were not even close to his level. The mudblood and her blood-traitor husband had still managed it, something only a couple of pure-bloods had been able to reciprocate. He took this failure quite personally. That they would be in pain what a big euphemism. A small smirk appeared on his lips as he thought about how their horrible deaths were going to destroy poor Albus. They were practically family, Dumbledore assuring a grandfather role to the young Potter. The old fool would finally have his back broken in two, destroying the small organization that was a torn in his foot.

Turning on the road, he finally saw it, the Potter's cottage. He was finally there, and he could see it, not protected anymore by the Fidelius charm. He could feel the strong wards Dumbledore had put there. However strong, they were relying too much on the Fidelius charm and were not expecting a traitor in the house. He entered the wards as he was keyed-in by the rat. He stopped in front of the house, and wandlessly opened the gate silently. His black robe training the ground after him, he approached the front of the house. He got his wand ready, and blasted the lock.

OoOoOoOoOo

This wasn't Remus Lupin's night. He had the full moon two days ago and was still recovering of his latest stint in the world of the werewolf. He had gladly opted out of the patrol that night, and stayed to watch James and Lily's kid. Peter was playing with the young Philip in his room as he read the papers of the night when he heard light footstep outside. He probably wouldn't have heard the steps if he hadn't had his transformation so close. His senses were heightened for about a week after the transformation.

He drew his wand and walked rapidly toward the walkway. He stepped out of the living room as the door was blasted out of its hinges. The door slammed on the floor and a dark silhouette stepped inside the house, his powerful aura intimidating and instigating fear. The power was leaking out of the man, a cold, heavy and menacing power. Lupin hesitated for a millisecond before raising his wand and sending a strong stunner at the Dark Lord. Not waiting for Voldemort to make his move, he rolled forward sending a cutting curse at his head. The spells were easily deflected by the dark wizard's shield and he send, looking as if completely bored a cruciatus curse toward Lupin who barely dodged it. He stood back up as he stared at the man lazily watching him as if he was not merely a passing annoyance. He charged again, casting hex after curses toward his dark enemy.

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Peter Pettigrew was, all things considered, a rat. Cowardly, traitor to his closest friend, weak, he represented his animagus form extremely well. So when the front door exploded, he didn't went down to help Remus as he should have done, or help the Dark Lord by killing Remus. He stayed in the nursery, watching the small child crying because of the loud noises the two combatants were making downstairs.

He probably should have told Remus that he didn't need to stay with him to keep the child when their parents were away, he could have saved the only one in the group that he still thought was a good person. The others got what they deserved for their jokes, their teasing of him, even tough he asked to stop, James and Sirius didnt looked like they cared at all.

He was a rat all in all, and as he picked the child from his crib, he wished, not for the first time, that things were different.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Remus gritted his teeth and as he raised his wand, he knew he was making his last stand. It was a pity, he hadn't even been able to have a wife. He would have loved to start his own family one day.

His wand pointed at the man responsible to all of is friends pain, he shot his own spell at the Dark Lord. Being a werewolf, he always had a strong reaction to dementors and had become a living expert in the patronus charm. He was able, with the non-negligible help of Lily, to create his own spell to use it offensively. His eyes glinted as he shouted : "Patronum Ignis"

A big Patroni appeared, howling at the invisible moon. He glanced around the room, locking eyes with a curious Voldemort who was waiting what his pitiful prey would be doing. The wolf growled and suddenly fire enveloped him completely. With an explosion of heat and fire, the fiery wolf charged toward the man enveloped in the dark robes. Just as the creature of fire was going to reach him, Voldemort quickly gave a snap of hand, sending the wolf flying toward the wall. He exploded upon impact, but clearly reformed from the fire. The wolf howled menacingly and sent a small fireball from his swishing tail. The ball disappeared on contact with Voldemort's shield, enraging the beast as he ran toward his enemy, his mind set on killing the black dressed man.

Voldemort drew his wand and began and incredibly complicated sequence of wand movement before pointing it a the ground. Almost immediately water surged from his wand splashing the ground. He then pointed his wand at the now confused wolf who had climbed on a chair to stay alive. In a flash, a translucent tentacle flew out of the water and took the snarling wolf with it in the water, effectively killing it. Voldemort reported his attention to the werewolf, on his knees, his wand held shakily in front of him. The spell had obviously exhausted him. Seeing his fun on his knees, ad without sparing him a glance, he fired a silent killing curse, hitting the werewolf Lupin straight in the chest, killing him instantly. Stepping over the limp body, he went up the stairs.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Pettigrew's entire being grew numb with guilt when he finally heard a deafening silence. His regret to not save his last friend, his cursing of himself for being what he was came a halt when the cold voice of his master was heard beside him. He turned around and saw Voldemort at the entrance of the nursery, his wand raised toward him. His breath caught in his throat as he watched his master stalking closer to the crib.

"M-M-Master," He said in a shaky voice. Hen couldn't't shake the feeling that something was going wrong with the plan.

Voldemort turned his head toward the almost whimpering man in front of him and smiled cruelly. He had never intended pay back the rat, his usefulness had ran his course. He raised his wrist, prepared to take the life of the human slug in front of him as a idea ran in his head. He could leave the man to be a dormant agent, striking when the time was right. He could still use a spy in the pathetic organization.

A gleam in his eyes, he stared inside his servant eyes, using legilimency to protect a few memories from Dumbledore. When he was finished, he broke the contact and, with a flick of his wrist sent the panicking rat writhing on the floor in pain. He tortured him until he lost conscience and then advanced toward the small child. The one-year old had been staring openly at Voldemort with his unflinching hazel eyes. The Dark Lord unease grew as the boy didn't cry when he had tortured Peter in front of him, choosing to stare at him defiantly instead. His hazel eyes were hard as a rock yet still had the same will his parents possessed. He would clearly have been a powerful wizard have the prophecy hadn't existed. The kid was a threat and he had to erase threats with overwhelming force to shut down any opposition.

His wand rose, and as he pronounced the Killing Curse words, he knew he had just made his worst mistake. An horrified look appeared on his face as the beam reflected on the baby's shoulder back to him. A torning sensation left him in a world of pain and without a body able to move, he disappeared into the night as people started appariting in Potter's cottage.

OoOoOoOoO

The aurors and the Order tried to find Voldemort's body, but it had clearly disappeared, leaving only a large cloak on the ground. The remains of Remus Lupin were recovered, and as a Post-hum sign, they gave him the Order of Merlin 1st Class, for his heroic actions and helping defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Pettigrew was interviewed by Dumbledore himself who saw in his mind the torture that Voldemort had put Peter under to retrieve the location of this place and the obviously botched obliviation he put on him. He was released and hailed as an hero for putting his body in front of the child, which earned him an Order of Merlin 2nd Class for his courage.

The child was found sleeping, alone on the ground, unharmed except for a Lightning bolt scar on his shoulder. He was quickly brought to his parents, James and Lily Potter, who were at the hospital, Lily just having had her second child. Remus' death really shook to the core the little family as James became a little more serious and Lily more protective of her children. Sirius, the oldest child's godfather, left early the next morning, on his motorbike and didn't came back until a year later. Everybody thought Peter blamed himself for the happenings inside the cottage, so no one intervened when he decided to take two years to travel before investing in a business like his father before him

The parents were trying to find a moment of calm in this whole story, having been harassed by journalist and tabloid's reporter wanting to interview the parents of "The Great Philip Potter, The Boy Who Lived". The hospital was finally obligated to contact the Magic Law Enforcement when a enraged stag tried to kill a certain blond reporter. A security cordon was then put in place to leave the grieving family alone with themselves.

James, standing by the bed, looked down worriedly to his wife, Lily, who was sitting in the bed, cradling Philip while their other child was sleeping in a nearby crib. She looked up and smiled a little sadly, thinking about how loosing Moony hurt James. He panicking at having lost a friend, blaming himself with guilt as if he was the reason he died. She was sad at seeing her husband destroy himself with guilt. She liked way better his cheery and happy normal self. She took his hand in hers gently, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Lils ?" he asked, uncertain of his own voice.

She smiled up at him, encouraging him to speak his mind. He cleared his throat with a cough, and began to explain his opinion of what he had thought over all day long.

"I… I think his second name should be Remus. He was going to be his godfather and he deserved it." He said in a hoarse voice from having clearly cried himself dry.

James looked at Lily with a sad gleam in his eyes waiting for her approval. He had thought about this all day. His name was supposed to have his mother's name as a second name, the same way his brother Philip had his name.

Lily started to laugh in her musical tone, looking over to the crib seeing the small baby enrolled in his covers.

James, looking really confused now, waited for his wife to regain her calm over the situation.

Shaking the last laughter off, she turned to him and smirked smugly, causing him to raise a confused eyebrow, resending her into another fits of laughter.

With an heavy sigh, James went to go search for a cup of water knowing that she would be having the hiccups. She always did when she laughed like that, it really was endearing.

Sure enough, as he came back, cup in hand, she started to hiccuping, causing her to stop laughing and to frown at her own tic. Giving her the cup, he saw a flicker of surprise in her eyes before being replaced by love and compassion. Sipping the cup, she sighted of content, relaxing on her pillow before turning herself completely toward James, putting small Philip beside her on the bed.

"That's exactly why I laughed" she said, pointing the cup, a small smile on her lips. "I already knew what you were going to ask me before you did, as you knew I would finish hiccuping, as well as the one thing that makes it go away for me.

I know you James Potter, and don't you deny it. You have placed so much guilt and responsibilities upon your shoulders, way too much weight for a man to support alone. And you're in luck, you're not alone here. You have me, you have Sirius, you have Albus, Frank, Alice,and all the others. Don't try to make it your own personal burden, it's a common one for all of us to bear."

Speechless, James stood still watching his wife straight in the eyes, promising himself that no one would ever touch her or their kids ever again. He sat next to her, taking her in his arms, relaxing comfortably against each other, thinking about what the future would bring.

**A/N : So, if you hadn't guess yet, this is a "Harry has a brother" story. However, it will not be a story concerning an ignored child, but a real epic. I have a plan that goes a long way in the future and I intend to get there. I have some ideas of who to pair Harry with, but if you have any idea, you're invited to send me PM about it ! **

**Now, I am not a English speaker naturaly, so I am asking for your help. If someone could Beta me, or just give me tips about writing in general, I'll be forever grateful. **

**I'll try to update it the best I can, but it won't go faster than once a week. I have time now so I'll write a lot in advance of when I can't anymore. **

**So yeah, tell me what you thought about it ! **

**See Ya ! **

**Frecto**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belongs to J.K. Rowlings.**

A small boy was standing outside, bathing in the afternoon sun, eyes closed. His dark hair was sticking in each direction, seemingly independent from the others. He had a long and slim frame. His face was angular, with a strong chin. He was simply dressed, a simple sweatpants and a shirt.

The wind blew on his hair as he opened his eyes. They were the colour of pure emerald. A bright green piercing gaze glanced around the area. He was standing on the porch of his house. The house was situated alone on a plain field. They had no visible neighbour. The only family that lived close-by was the infamous red-heads clan, the Weasley family. The boy knew them quite well, as his parents were friends with them. He could see not too far away the family's Quidditch pitch. He knew his father was there to practice with his brother, a really talented seeker. He had been the first seeker in a century to have been recruited in his first year at Hogwarts. Philip was absolutely proud of the fact. Philip had always been the energetic kid, always wanting to try everything, almost reckless some would say. Since they had been little, Philip had always put his brother in some dangerous situation. He had a knack for finding trouble wherever he was.

The boy sighed as he sat down on the stairs in front of the house. It was more of a mansion really. The Potter Domain was a 3 stories high mansion and a donjon. It was beautiful in a rustic kind of way; the vines scrambling on the surface of the mansion were giving it an ancient cachet.

He knew why trouble always found his older brother. The whole 'The-Boy-Who-Lived' phenomenon had always been a big part of their life. The general public absolutely loved Philip, hailing him as their saviour. It had even affected their parents and family, to a much smaller extent. Simple things, like the amount of time his parents had given the older boy into training him in advance. It didn't really bother Harry; he would get his own training when he joined Hogwarts this year. He wasn't an exercise junkie like his older brother. He wasn't the energy battery that was able to play Quidditch twenty-four seven. He was Harry Potter, the unknown little brother of Philip Potter. Well, at least unknown by the media. He was the calm, reserved and brilliant Harry Potter. Where his brother had a talent for physical things, he had a clear talent with mental capacity.

However how different the two brothers were, they were also incredibly close. Harry had almost worshipped Philip at his young age. They had stuck together through most of childhood, having few other friends. Philip was a good friend with the Weasley of his age, Ronald, and the lone Longbottom child, Neville. The Longbottoms were his mother's best friends, Alice being the Godmother of Harry.

Last year, they had all three began to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They had met other friends. Hermione Granger was a bushy haired muggle-born. Philip had said he didn't know which of Harry and Hermione was the smarter. The other two were the boys of his dormitories, Seamus Finnigan, an Irish hell-raiser and Dean Thomas, another muggle-born.

Apparently, trouble had to find the little group of friends at Hogwarts. Harry didn't know all of the details, he had however heard about a confrontation with a troll. How Philip had managed to survive such an encounter, he didn't know. But it didn't really surprise him that was really how his brother rolled. One time, he had managed to literally poke a bear on a camping trip. The bear wasn't a fan of being poked by a five years-old. And that was a pretty mild one for him.

Harry had some friends of his own. His best friend was the sister to Ron, Ginevra or Ginny. She was actually pretty similar to his brother, which made the whole separating business way less painful. He was somewhat scared of his brother's godmother, Mrs. Weasley but loved the Weasley family. And, honestly, everyone was at least a little scared of Molly Weasley, including his father and his uncle Sirius. The two top aurors at the Ministry were put regularly into their places by the matriarch of the Weasley clan.

"Harry, can you please go get your brother and father, we have to leave for the train in less than an hour"

His mother, Lily Potter, had become the muggles studies teacher at Hogwarts, waiting for an opening at a better position. She was pretty anxious this year as it would be the first year both of her sons were at Hogwarts, leaving James alone with their small daughter most of the time. The little Mary Potter was born in 1984, making her a whole three years younger than Harry, 4 than Philip. She was extremely jealous that both her brothers were finally at Hogwarts. She always wanted to be with her brother the most she could.

"Sure thing mom" replied Harry as he rose from his seat on the stairs and began to walk toward the pitch.

As he arrived at the pitch, he approached the stands to see his uncle and his godfather watching with wide eyes his brother attempting a Wronski feint. He knew the name just because his brother had managed to completely shatter both his legs the last time he had tried to pull it off. He always went for the big flashy moves, as that feint didn't really work on intelligent opponents. He rolled his eyes at his brother apparent cheekiness. Philip was descending in a straight line twisting on himself to add some non-necessary difficulty at the move.

He sat beside his godfather, Peter Pettigrew, and watched as his brother pulled off the move perfectly, leaving his uncle Sirius to shout in victory over the move. Harry hadn't even been slightly worried. His brother was sometimes a little dim, but he was extremely talented when it came to flying. The last time, when he had broken almost all of his leg's bones, he had tried it in reverse. Suffice to say that it wasn't a good idea.

As his brother landed in the stands near, getting a bear-hug from his uncle, his father landed directly in front of Harry, making him jump a bit at the sudden arrival.

"So, you finally came to see your brother pull it off?" Asked his father, grinning down at him.

Harry huffed as his father's hand ruffled his hair around, making them worse than they were already. "Nope, I already knew he could pull it off, he showed me last week."

James blinked down at his son, before remembering the day that they were. He casted a tempus spell and visibly cringed. He knew he was going to get an earful from his wife as soon as they arrived at the house. They really had to be going now, as it took an hour to travel to King Cross from the Black Cauldron, the place they would appear to.

He whistled at his oldest to hit the shower and change properly, before turning to his two best friends left. "You guys are coming with us at the station this year too right?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at him "You know we're coming. The kid is going to need an escort when we'll apparate to the Leaky Cauldron. We don't want you guys to be mobbed again by loving fans."

Peter nodded "And it's Harry's first year too, we can't really miss it"

James smiled and put his arm around his twelve years-old son, steering him toward the house to get prepared to his actual entrance in the world of magic. He was pretty excited that his genius of a son would finally show everyone his talents!

He only hoped for less trouble happening in the school.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Standing almost at attention like a soldier, Harry and Philip had their parents fretting over them, making sure they had everything with them. Harry and Philip both rolled their eyes when their mom asked them for the fourth time if they had taken their wands with them.

"Lils, honey, I know you don't want them to forget anything and all, but we really have to go" said James with a knowing smile. She was always overthinking things when she got worried. It was really endearing to see, but it was going to make them late.

"Right. Well, everyone just be sure to touch something that touches your father, you know how this worked" Harry gulped and prepared mentally for the nausea he felt each time he side-apparated. He grasped the hand of his father tightly, making sure to pick up his trunk and the cage of his pitch-black royal owl, Hel. He had received it from his parents when he turned twelve as his bother received a snowy-white owl, Hedwige. They had both given them name of a god in the Scandinavian mythology, to show their bonds with each other. However, the two owls hated each other with passion, and Hel had to pass most of the time outside in the world hunting, as Hedwig stayed in the mansion's owlery.

With a sudden crack, he felt himself twisting by his inside, the ground disappearing for a moment before re-appearing under him as he fell down, like always, his inside tied into a knot.

He looked around to see the familiar pub badly lighten. He was happy to see his two uncles already there, their wands drawn as if waiting for an attack from a moment to the other. His mother apparated a moment later and took the lead, getting them inside of the car they had ought a couple of years back.

They made the trip to the train's station pretty quickly, in complete silence. Harry looked at Philip and saw him shaking his leg rapidly, a sure sign of his impatience to go to Hogwarts again.

They arrived at the train's station at the same time as the Weasley family. Arthur Weasley, the patriarch of the family, was exchanging greetings with his parents, as Molly Weasley was seemingly talking to her oldest still at Hogwarts, Percy. Harry always found Percy obnoxious. He respected and even admired his love for knowledge, but proclaiming it to everyone, being a general suck-up was completely distasteful in a knowledge oriented person.

Ron was approaching his brother, bumping fist as well as embarking into a big conversation about the chances of a team, Pudding mare if he remembered right, of winning the cup that year. Ron was taller than him and stockier than his brother. You could already see the outline of muscles on his thirteen years-old body. He was a good lad, just a little too much simple for him. He liked to have intelligent conversations on other things than Quidditch with people.

Next to them was his favourites Weasleys, the infamous pranking twins and his best friend, Ginny. The twins were a couple of pranksters who loved to use anything from a simple potions to highly illegal explosives to make their mark as Hogwarts best pranksters. They were in simple awe at the Marauders and were looking to reprise the mantle. Their pranks were exceptionally funny to Harry, and as a bonus, it was never aimed at him. They had taken to deviate him from the path they were sure he was going to take as Percy's second coming, to the path of a 'New Marauders' as they called their little pranking band.

Ginny was a small girl with bright blue eyes. She was funnier than hell and had one hell of a character to boot. She could whip her brothers in shape in no time, having almost the same temper as their mother's. That led to some legendary fight in the family, as that was nights all the men of the Weasley clan were ejected from the house for a reason or another, varying between insubordination and other excuses. Harry suspected that to be well-acted theatre to have an evening with just girls, but hadn't yet still been able to prove it.

He walked towards them, as they were obviously in the middle of a conversation about a prank on Percy that they had done with Ginny's help.

"… We'll just have to see if he's going to realise that you've been writing him fake letters from the gal in Ravenclaw" finished Fred, oblivious at the presence of Harry into the vicinity.

However, his twin Georges, astute as ever, saw him arriving.

"Speaking of Ravenclaws, our own little future raven his going to finally be admitted into the sect of the smart people" Harry smiled at this. He was really hoping to get placed into Ravenclaw as they represented everything he wanted out of Hogwarts. A safe haven to study and to learn incredible stuff. He wanted to be with fellow bookworms, to be able to discuss theories without being judged by the others. He had heard about the treatment the Gryffindors had gave Hermione. Isolating the poor girl because she was smarter than them. She had the luck of befriending almost immediately Philip, who had enough experience with intelligent people to not cast her aside.

"Hey, we never know, he's maybe going to be a Gryffindor you know" said Ginny nervously glancing at Harry to gauge his reaction. Harry stayed silent, merely offering a small smile to reassure Ginny that he wasn't discounting the option. He knew that Ginny was scared to lose her best friend if they got into different houses.

"Of course he's going into Gryffindor, that's the best house!" came the far away shout of Ron. Harry found him a bit closed-minded. He was sure the other houses would still be fun to be a part of.

James approached the small cluster of youngsters. "Alright guys, we should go right now if we want to catch the Longbottoms before you all have to go in the train."

They walked rapidly in the station, making a beeline toward the platform 9¾. They arrived at the small space between the docks 9 and 10. The parents were still chatting without a care together. Harry looked curiously at the docks full of people that didn't seem to see them. He knew it was because of a muggle repellent charm. It was in a book he had read in their library at home. It was still another story to see it in person. It was extremely impressive. He could clearly define the line where the muggles were aware of his existence and where they were completely distracted by magic to do other things. If magic could be that powerful, he was waiting to see the place of magic by excellence, Hogwarts. Harry was completely sure, after having read Hogwarts: A History, that the castle would be completely magnificent.

"Harry, if you're finished day-dreaming, we can pass the barrier now."

He looked up to his mother sheepishly. She smirked knowingly at him; she had been as impressed as him in front of a real piece of strong and powerful magic. Harry looked around him and saw that everyone had already gone through the wall. He took a big respiration, thenstarted a small run toward the barrier, his mother on his heel with his carriage they took at the entrance to put his trunk and Hel.

He felt like a cold shimmering passing by him as he entered the wall effortlessly. He surged on the otherside, widening his eyes at the sight of the red and black train smoking lazily. The whole dock was completely full, and children could be seen everywhere saying their goodbyes to their family. He quickly found the Potters and Weasleys into a discussion with the Longbottoms. Frank and Alice, two extremely talented Aurors in Sirius' team, were talking softly at the Weasley parents a serious look on their faces. Harry shrugged off any thought about it, it was surely work-related. He saw Neville, one of his brother best friends talking to Philip, his smirk always in place.

Neville was a pretty bright young man with the greenest thumb he had ever seen. The tall and regal looking thirteen years-old was projecting confidence. Neville always had been confident and loved by his parents. His already strong build was a sign of already intense training he put himself into. He was gentle, but had a small budding arrogance that didn't have a place in a Longbottom. He had gained it when he had entered the school and was respected even by Slytherin because of the greatness of his parents. It had evapored when they learned he was basically useless in charms whatsoever, and average in everything other than Herbology.

He was about to join the conversation when the train let out a high whistle informing every students of the imminent departure. His hands became sweaty as he began to stress about the school. He couldn't help but hope to be able to enter Ravenclaw. He was nervous about making friends, having fun, learning things. Everything he had completely buried inside him came back with a vengeance, leaving him a nervous wreck on the dock, his eyes unfocused straight ahead.

He was startled out of his thoughts by the hand of his father clasping his shoulder, crouched beside him. "Don't be afraid Harry, you'll do great! Go show them the best Ravenclaw they have ever known" Harry calmed down immediately. He knew that his father wanted nothing more than for him to be in Gryffindor. To hear him acknowledge the fact that he was going to be a Ravenclaw was astonishing for Harry. It soothed him as if his father said that it was going to be fine, it was going to be fine more than surely. He gave a brief hug to his father, his eyes fulling with tears. He was going to miss seeing him each day. His mother gave him a smile

"Remember, as long as we're at Hogwarts, you must call me Professor Potter. Now go on, you'll miss your train"

With a last wave of the hand and a smile, he plunged into the mass of people trying to get aboard the train first, pushing people. He managed to bet at the door at the same time a older boy with pale b,ond hair surrounded by what appeared to be a mix between gorillas and boys pushed the crowd appart to enter the train. He felt a hand grabbing his collar and throwing him back, making his carriage fall and Hel to hoot angrily at the offender. The blond boy turned around as he was climbing the stairs. He shot him a superior look, and sneered "You'll learn to fear the Malefoy name, peasant." He entered the train followed by his goons closely.

Harry cringed as he felt a small pain in his back. Apparently, landing on his back on stone was painful. He was wondering if it wasn't all Potter boys that attracted trouble like moth to a flame. He hadn't even embarked on the train that he had been pushed around and insulted by some sort of school bully. Around him the crowd didn't seem to have seen him get throw back or they didn't care in the least. He let out a sigh. If that school had that degree of bullying without him having shown up other people in class, he would get destroyed after each class.

He glanced back to see his parents staring at the door the Malfoy kid had just entered with profound disgust and anger. His father had his wand out, fingering it and looking quite homicidal.

"Are you going to lie there for the rest of the day?" asked a voice behind Harry. He whirled around, fearing to having to face another bully so soon in his career as a Hogwarts student.

In front of him stood a tall girl. Her long blond hair was descending on her shoulder with some curves to her lower back. He had to say, she was absolutely beautiful in a unapproachable kind of way. Her face seemed stuck in a haughty look, as if he was nothing but an insect to her. Her nose was crinkled as if just the fact that talking to him would make her a lesser person.

"Close your mouth, and stand up, you're drooling on the floor like a mutt" Harry blushed as he realise he had been gaping at the girl. He stood up quickly, gathering his things and mumbling an apology. She turned around and stepped back into the train. He followed her in the stairs, entering the train. He saw a long hallway filled with small compartments. He followed the other girl as they passed various compartments. They all looked full. The girl looked suddenly into one on the right, and entered like she owned that cabin.

Harry continued walking, passing the cabin of the girl and searching for Ginny. A hand pulled his collar and he started to have flashback of the stone wall. But instead of being flung like a doll, he was being dragged into the girl's cabin. She pushed him inside and closed the door. He sat down on a bench, next to another dreamy looking girl with blond hair. The haughty girl sat in front of him and stared at him.

Harry was beginning to feel uncomfortable from the intense look the girl was giving him, when the train whistled again, and started to roll forward.

He ignored the girl with a shrug and looked outside at his parents. They had obviously calmed and were talking with small smiles on their faces. The train quickly left the station, making it's hours-long way to the magical school. The blond girl at his right was reading a magazine upside down like it was the singular most interesting piece of information ever written. Snobby bitch, as he dubbed her in his head, was still staring silently at him. She was clearly not impressed by what she saw, annoying the boy immensely. He turned his head directly in front of him, staring inside the chocolate iris calmly.

She appeared to be slightly uncomfortable to be watched intently like that. "Daphne Greengrass, Slytherin 2nd year." She finally presented herself, extending a hand out.

Harry grinned at the girl. He shook the small hand the girl had presented him. He was always happy to meet new people.

"I'm Harry Potter" replied candidly the boy, observing the reaction to his brother's fame. The absence of surprise was pretty surprising to him. She either already knew of his name or she just didn't had any emotion. He would have went with the second explanation when he saw the victorious glint in his eyes. She was there for another purpose. He wondered what it would be. Trying to recruit him in some sort of club. Unlikely, as she still hadn't engaged him yet. If she knew his name it meant that she wasn't quite interested at Harry then at Potter. Which meant she was after the other Potters. He could easily find out which one it was, and playing around a girl who obviously thought she was the cunniest person aboard the train.

"So Daphne, care to tell me what the great house of serpents is like?" asked the boy innocently.

Daphne smirked "The house of the Great Salazar Slytherin is the best house in Hogwarts. It's a house completely revolved around intelligence and cunning. The true Slytherin achieve power any way imaginable. Only those who understand this can achieve true greatness. It's nothing like those no-good cats who are only able to do things recklessly and get almost killed."

Harry frowned at this. He was expecting a small, but passionate of the adventures the Boy-Who-Lived. She was obviously no there for his brother, which left one other option. She was really playing the long con.

Daphne misread the frowning as she rolled her eyes at it "I know you're going to give me a ten minute piece on why Gryffindor is the best, and you can shove it. The Gryffindors are a bunch of meat heads, just like the cowards Hufflepuff and the antisocial Ravenclaw. All you Potter's are the same."

Harry hid a victorious smirk. She had just played right in his hands. It was time to let her know she was discovered. Being underestimated made it unchallenging. She hadn't really even tried to con him other than faking helping him.

"You know, the next time you want something from my family, you can actually ask before lying to get it." Daphne stilled, a unreadable look on her face. "You have no interest in me, obvous by the amount of staring or barely concealed disgust when you look at me. My brother is a Gryffindor, something you hate. So therefore, the only logical explanation is that you look forward to be acknowledged by my mother."

Harry smirked at the shock leaking away from her eyes. He had played the innocent boy well enough. "You said you were a Slytherin, that was your big mistake. The other boy was Draco Malfoy, one of your classmate and the nemesis of my brother. You are clearly trying to recuperate from the points he just lost," finished Harry, a proud grin on his face.

Daphne was still staring at him, completely lost. A Potter, one of the Light family had just out-thought a Slytherin. It was the equivalent of a Hufflepuff beating ravenclaws in knowledge. It just wasn't possible.

"You also made the basic mistake of underestimating me. I'm not my brother; I'm not just another Gryffindor doing reckless stunts. I'm the Potter who is going to end up in Ravenclaw and become the most knowledgeable student ever to come to Hogwarts" said proudly Harry.

Daphne dropped her eyes to the floor, stood up and left the compartment silently.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Daphne stepped out of the compartment completely stunned. She was one of Slytherin's most intelligent ones, able to create a plan from nothing. She had seen Malfoy's goon throw him around and had felt a little pity to be man-handled by Gregory Goyle. It was only when she had heard the teacher's cries that she saw an opportunity and went for it. She really thought she had gotten away with it, but apparently, she had been completely outplayed by a first year. He had known her game and used her as a way to make a clear message to the others Slytherins; I'm not my brother, and if you don't leave us alone, you'll regret it. He had quite simply made the Slytherins take all the blame when he would take his revenge.

She was a bit angry at herself to have been caught and used, but she could deal with that, she just had underestimated her adversary. What completely dumbfounded her was that he still would lie to his mother for her, while he knew she had just used him. She would have pegged him for a Slytherin if he wasn't a Potter, obviously obsessed with Light, like his whole family.

And she hadn't completely hated the time passed in that cabin. The kid was clearly more intelligent then she gave him credit for. He was also quite different then the Weasley or Potter in the school, being a bookworm at heart.

Daphne smiled to herself as she made her way to her cabin. This year would definitely be interesting.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry sighed for what felt like the hundredth times this day. The ride from King Cross to Hogwarts was extremely long. Even more so when he hadn't any friends with him in his cabin. He had tried to find Ginny, but couldn't find her anywhere. He was left alone in his cabin with the strange girl still staring at the newspaper upside down. He didn't really want to interrupt the girl. She was obviously crazy as she had god dammed radishes on her ears! He turned back with another sigh toward the window, watching the English country pass outside.

"You are not like your brother at all" said a dreamy voice. He turned to the blond girl in front of him. She had put away the magazine and was looking at him straight in the eyes. Where Harry saw intelligence and cunning in the eyes of Daphne, he saw complete confidence in herself. She was sure of who she was, and didn't care about what anyone else thought about her. He felt a bit intimidated by her assure stare.

"You know him?" asked Harry. He haven't heard anything about another of his brother's friends that as a female. And if he had to guess, Hermione wasn't a girl who looked from a asylum detainee.

"No, I've heard of him. He chased the teacher attacked by the wrackspurt last year" she answered evenly. Harry blinked, searching mentally about what the wrackspurt was. He hadn't read it in his books at home, so it must have been an incredibly rare magical animal. He sighed, his brother always managed to get himself into the worst situation possible. He really wondered how his brother managed to stay alive for that long. "What exactly is a wrackspurt?"

"It's an invisible being invading a person's thoughts. It's really impossible to detect or to counter without the Wrackspurt Siphon" replied distantly the other girl.

Harry gaped at the blond girl in front of him. She had just admitted believing in invisible being able to almost possess someone. He chuckled at the thought before turning into a full blown laugh.

After being able to retake control over his action, he smiled brightly at the girl in front of him, his eyes twinkling in amusement. Finally, the train ride didn't seems so long and boring anymore.

**A/N: Alright, that's finally done. Still searching for a Beta if any of you guys can give a hand for me, it would be appreciated. **

**Don't forget to review if you have any comments on the story so far ! **

**See you next time !**

**Frecto.**


	3. Chapter 2

Harry and the blond girl, Luna, continued to chat for the whole night. Harry found Luna to be the one thing he missed at home, craziness. His parents, while obviously funny and kind, were relatively sane people. His brother was just completely insane, but in a more frightening way. This girl said things so far-fetched it wasn't completely excluded that she was hallucinating most of the time. And just when he had classed her as a totally crazy person, she would give him a absolutely stunning reflection on a quite difficult subject. She was then bluntly honest and didn't stop to pander to the others' feeling. When another first year tried to come into the booth with a snarky smile, a mischievous look in his eyes, she told him clearly that smirking like that just made it look like he was constipated. And when he left angrily, she just commented offhandedly on the vicious viruses coursing through the ranks of the bad persons. Harry had almost died of laughter, stopping only after several minutes of breathless howling.

The day had begun to fall down, the dusk settling over the country when the train made its arrival in Hogsmeade, the wizarding village next to Hogwarts. They had changed into their Hogwarts robes and packed the rest of their stuff when the prefect had come to tell them.

Both were looking in the giant window. The train made it to a stop at the train station. Harry turned to look at his blond-haired friend

"So, we're finally there. Nervous?" he asked, a small grin on his face. "Not really no. It isn't like it the Assembly of the National Search of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack." She replied calmly, her face serene like always.

Harry grinned "Are you even nervous about anything in your life?" Luna shrugged, "Not really, no" He shook his head, chuckling again.

He stood up, leaving his trunk and his owl in the cabin, and got off the train. Luna followed him, humming a light tune, almost skipping next to him. A small smile on his lips, he continued further down the station to where the first year were grouped around an extremely tall and strong man. It was obviously the gate-keeper, Hagrid. He was his parents' friend, and had befriended quickly his brother last year. He had heard a lot of tales about the kind-hearted half-giant when he was a kid.

He and Luna made their way into the small crowd of children. They quickly got off toward the giant lake they could see from here, separating Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. Hagrid was chatting loudly with an excited small boy with a camera in the front.

He felt like he was forgetting something as he walked away from the train. It wasn't his trunk or his owl; they were supposed to be left there. He couldn't remember what it was. Did his parents tell him he needed to do something when he arrived? He didn't remember so, but he hadn't paid much attention, having been searching Ginny at the time. It finally clicked in his head as a punch connected with his left shoulder sending him staggering a couple of steps to his right. He whirled around and saw the fiery mane of his best friend, an angry scowl on her young face. He felt increasingly nervous; she had quite the temper. "H-Hey there Ginny, how was your train ride?"

She huffed and clenched her fist, looking increasingly menacing. "I was obligated to sit all alone with our brothers and listen to them talk for long hours about nothing. I hope you have a good reason to have left me all alone in there." Harry was really beginning to panic, he had a good alibi for the first 2 hours, but after that, he had really just forgot to search her on the train preferring talking to Luna about everything and anything.

"Yes, he was with me talking about wrackspurt and Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," said the dreamy tone of Luna. Ginny looked at the girl for a second, her anger forgotten for the sheer shock of the things Luna had just said. That gave him a slight opening to explain his misadventures of that morning.

"It wasn't what you think, I got pushed around a bit by a second year Slytherin boy and I had to deal with an attempt to glean point from my mother by an other Slytherin girl" he quickly explained

Ginny calmed herself considerably after that, preferring to swear revenge on the slimy snake that attacked her best friend. Harry couldn't believe he had gotten out of it unharmed. He gave Luna an odd look, reconsidering again his assessment of his friend. He was either lucky and she didn't have a clue about anything she did, or she was extremely bright and could assess human personalities quickly enough to react to them accordingly.

They continued to walk down the small path leading to the lake. On the shore, boats were accosted obviously waiting for them. He had heard of it from his parents, so he quickly got into a boat with Ginny and Luna, joined by a small group of the other first years. The group was completely silent when they kicked off the shore towards the giant castle in the distance. Harry could see everyone, excluding Luna, was anxious about finally entering the wizarding world and the sorting ceremony.

Deciding to break the tension in the air, he asked loudly to Luna which house she wanted to go.

She merely blinked at him before answering lightly "Ravenclaw". Ginny scoffed at that, declaring loudly about wanting to be a Gryffindor. The other kids began to join in as well, proclaiming their houses of choice to be the best one out there.

Harry contended to watch, smiling until a snarky young boy exclaimed loudly, "And you Potter, you'll probably be in Gryffindor like all your no-good family!" Every conversation quieted down, all looking into Harry's direction and the smirking boy.

It was painfully obvious to Harry what this was. Like the boy who had come into the compartment, they wanted a piece of The 'Boy-Who-Lived' brother. Trying to get a name for themselves before even entering the school halls. The most infuriating was that it was working. He wanted to do something rash, which he never wanted to do. His hand was itching to take the wand and try out the spells he had read about in his books on the insolent boy. But he wasn't his brother. He wasn't another reckless Potter, prompt to use his wand. He was Harry Potter, the one that didn't antagonize half the school on the first day.

However, Ginny did not have the same reservations. She already had her wand raised toward the smirking boy, a jinx on the tip of her tongue. Her face was completely impassible, like the calm before the storm. The boy drew his own wand, raising it on Ginny, his smirk enlarging. He obviously had enough confidence in his abilities to try and fight on the first day. He was probably trained like a lot of the other pureblood families.

Luna's dreamy tone cut through the tension building on the small boat, still advancing steadily toward the quickly approaching castle. "I believe it would be pretty stupid to attack a professor's son and his best friend on the first day. You would get a high number of points knocked down. That person would probably be hated by his future house"

The boy stopped smirking and appeared torn between actually hexing Ginny or his social life for the upcoming seven years. He slowly dropped his arm back down, glaring at the group openly. The chatter resumed, a bit more controlled than previsously. Ginny was smiling triumphantly at everyone, her wand still in her hand as if to prevent a last minute attack.

Harry was again forced to reassess Luna. She had just shown incredible situational abilities. She had disengaged the conflict like it was nothing. She would probably do great in Ravenclaw.

The boat finally reached the shore, and they all got on the ground, some loosing their dinner to the seasickness. They fell into silence again, everyone too much occupied fretting over the different possibilities to talk between each other. Well, except Luna, who was humming a fast song while playing with her hair, her mind obviously on more important subjects.

They reached the giant wooden door that led to the Great Hall. Hagrid told them to wait there until a teacher went to get them. No one really talked, preferring musing in their corner.

Again, Luna was obviously outside the norm as she clearly declared to Harry, "I, for one, think you'll be great in Gryffindor" and then proceed to return to her invisible world, leaving a gaping Harry standing there.

He has just put her into the intelligent and observing people he knew, and she went and predicted him, an alleged bookworm, into Gryffindor. Him, the guy without any desire of trouble and dreams of living the life of a researcher. He sighed, putting her into the undetermined file for the countless time that day. He was beginning to think he should just class her as being unique and finish it with that.

While he was musing about his friend, an old witch appeared from around the corner, her face in a proud mask. Harry knew who she was, after all, Minerva McGonagall was one of his parents' friends and often saw her outside the school.

She beckoned the group of first year to follow her through the giant doors that opened up for them to pass. They entered the Hall in a thundering applause from the older students. Harry glanced around the Hall, mesmerized by the ceiling reflecting a clear sky and the stars. The older students were arranged into four tables, each with their own house. The staff members were at the table, looking at them proudly. His mother had a bright smile on her face clapping enthusiastically. His grandfather figure, Dumbledore was watching him with his twinkling eyes. He saw Hagrid at the table cheering again. Next to him was a man he heard countless stories about, Severus Snape. That man was universally hated by the man in the Potter household. They never spoke about it or Lily would jump on them like a lioness with self-righteous honor. They were old friends after all.

Luna was watching everything with small curiosity, where Ginny was completely blown away by the sheer size of the Hall. She hadn't quite believed her family when they told her the magnitude of Hogwarts.

The small group of first year quickly huddled up to the front, where a small stool was put on a platform. On the stool sat the legendary Sorting Hat, rumored to have been owned by Godric Gryffindor himself. The group stopped in front of the platform, staring at the Hat.

Professor McGonagall stepped in front of the group and opened her parchment up. On it was written each new student's name. She began to name them in alphabetical order. The first girl, a certain Ambrose Mary, sat on the stool as the teacher put the Hat on her head. For a few second, her eyes concentrated on something, narrowing at it. Finally the Hat loudly declared, "Ravenclaw!" The girl smiled brightly and ran towards her new house to have a seat at the ravens' table.

Harry quickly lost interest. He was scanning the room, looking for his brother. He saw him between Neville and Ron chatting at his table without a care.

"Luna Lovegood"

Harry turned to the front to see his new friend sit down on the stool. The Hat was then put on her head. However, she didn't appear to be otherwise more concentrated or absent than normal like the others. She simply sat there for half a minute, still whistling without care, before the Hat announced loudly, his voice dripping with confusion, "RAVENCLAW" She hopped down and skipped toward her house, earning a few odd looks from them. Harry and Ginny looked at each other and grinned, clearly looking in their new friend's head had confused the millennium old Hat.

They watched their friend present herself to her new house and laughed silently at the reaction the group of pragmatics were giving her.

"Harry Potter!"

Whispers began among the students, everyone looking at him now. They were obviously ignorant to the fact that the Boy-Who-Lived had a brother. Harry huffed in annoyance and advanced with surety to the stool and sat down. He watched the room and saw his brother giving him a thumbs-up, grinning like a maniac at him. He smiled warmly. The view of his brother being there for him was reassuring, and gave him courage. McGonagall put the Hat on his head.

Harry flinched when he heard a low voice coming from the Hat, inside his head. _"Interesting… Way more potential than your brother, I see… You certainly have the Ravenclaw brains."_ Harry swelled up in happiness, believing he would finally go to Ravenclaw. "_Don't get ahead of yourself boy._" Said the Hat "_You also have the big heart of the badger. Your cunning is on the level of old Salazar himself. And you have more of Gryffindor's qualities than many others."_

Harry felt mortified. He could possibly go to Gryffindor, or even worse, Slytherin. He began to plead to the Hat to go to Ravenclaw. '_Please, don't make me go there, just put me into Ravenclaw'_

_'__I find your prejudices aberrant. The values of each house are not grossly resumed like you think. You should be put just like the Malfoy kid with his superiority complex. Ravenclaw isn't the House of the intelligence, it's the one of the knowledge. Gryffindor isn't for the reckless, it's for the valiant. Slytherin isn't for the Dark wizard, it's for the ambitious individuals. Hufflepuff isn't the house of the no-talent, it's the one of the loyalty and friendship. You should not be so quick to judge as you possess all of those qualities. However, the house that can help you the most will definitely be…'_

"GRYFFINDOR" bellowed the Hat aloud. Harry's eyes snapped open at the thundering applause coming from the Lion's table. His first coherent thought was a simple 'God damned Luna'.

He felt his stomach reversing on itself, as the way to Ravenclaw was barred by a hat. He stood up and walked toward the roaring table. His brother quickly clapped his shoulder and installed him in front of him, next to a bushy haired girl who he assumed was Hermione. He looked at the Ravenclaw table and saw Luna nodding to him before going back to her imaginary world.

Yep, categorizing her was a total headache. He left her in the unknown position, it was fitting he thought.

His brother looked at him with a bright smile, "I knew it! Even you, our little resident genius, you can't escape the awesomeness of our house!" He smiled thinly at his brother, feeling a bit better to be with him at least. The Hat had said he could have been in Slytherin. He shivered at the thought. Gryffindor was way better than the House of the snakes.

He nodded politely to Ron and pumped a fist with Neville. He quickly presented himself to the rest of the closer students. They greeted him nicely. He turned around as another boy was sorted into Slytherin, a sly smile on his face.

Ginny was called by the Transfiguration teacher to the front. Harry grinned as he saw her fidgeting, clearly anxious to be in Gryffindor as well. As soon as the Hat touched her hair, he placed her in Gryffindor with a last shout.

She made her way under the applause of the table, cheering their last recruit. Ginny being the last student, McGonagall drew her wand and levitated the stool out of the room, the Hat firmly in her hands.

The Headmaster stood up, claiming the immediate attention of the students. His blue piercing eyes swept the Hall twinkling. Harry was sure the man locked eyes with him for a second longer than normal. Dumbledore coughed in his hand before speaking "To all the new students, welcome to Hogwarts! To all the others, welcome back. There is a time for speeches and, fortunately, that time isn't upon us yet."

He snapped his fingers and suddenly a real feast appeared on the table. He sat back down, and it appeared to be the signal to eat as each student lunged toward the food, trying to get the best parts for them.

Harry looked at the Ravenclaw table, longing to be a part of their house. He envied Luna so much. The jealousy was beginning to pit in his stomach, destroying his hunger. He didn't realize he was scowling until he felt a small nudge on his arm. He turned and saw Ginny looking at him with a questioning look. He could see in her eyes, she was completely overjoyed about being a Gryffindor with him. He gave her a weak smile.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him, scowling fiercely. She had obviously connected the dots, and thought that he didn't really want to be with her in the same house. Harry gulped, knowing he was in for a chewing out.

He was saved by his brother as he began to interrogate him about the train ride.

"Well, it was pretty okay, I got pushed around a bit by Malfoy, but I met Luna so it's all good." He added quickly seeing fury mounting in his brother's eyes. The boy turned sharply his head straight at the blond boy, glaring at him. Neville began to mutter insults under his breath as Ron's knuckles were white from the tight grip he had on his cup. It was impressive that the cup hadn't yet begun to show a sign of pressure from the force he was putting into it. Even Hermione was a bit grim. He knew from his brother's stories that Hermione didn't hate easily. But she had a rather intense dislike of the heir of the Malfoy line.

Ginny squeezed his shoulder, letting him know she would be there the next time.

"Don't worry kid, we'll get the blond bastard good for you" his brother's smile was downright vindictive, Neville and Ron were wearing matching grins. Hermione just frowned before concentrating on her food. She obviously didn't support them, but wasn't going to stop them either.

They all finished eating, chatting carelessly. Ginny was still a bit cold toward Harry, letting him know they had a long discussion waiting for them soon.

Finally, Dumbledore stood up again and cleaned the table in a flick of a wrist.

"I'll try to be brief with the announcements. First of all, the Forbidden forest didn't lose its name or meaning during the summer; it's still forbidden of all access. No magic in the corridors is allowed at all,"

Philip leaned toward his brother "It is if you don't get caught," he whispered, earning a few chuckles from his brother, and a glare from Hermione.

Dumbledore continued, unaware of any comments, "Mr. Filch has once again asked me to tell you that the list of prohibited items is going to be posed on his board outside his office. And we happened to have placed a detection charm on it, preventing it from being modified again."

Harry was pretty sure he finished his sentences by looking directly at the Weasley twins who were trying to look innocent but failing miserably.

"Due to the regretful passing of our Defense teacher last year, we have a new teacher to present to you. We were lucky to be able to join him between two contracts late last year. He agreed to come and teach here. I pray you to welcome Mr. Acker to the school and to make him feel welcome."

Harry heard Hermione gasp loudly when the name of the teacher had been revealed. He looked at her with all of the others, waiting for an explication. She blushed a bit at all the sudden attention, muttering a faint excuse.

Ron simply rolled his eyes "Are you going to say it or make us squirm?"

She gave the brash boy an annoyed look, but complied nonetheless. "Alexander Acker is one of the most famous Dark Wizard hunters in the whole world. It's said that he only lost one fight ever, again Gellert Grindelwald in the forties."

Harry's eyes widened "Isn't that the man Dumbledore defeated when he was young?"

Hermione nodded frantically "Grindelwald is supposed to be the strongest dark wizard since Morgana"

Everyone looked at each other, a little stunned by the news that they were going to be taught by one of the strongest wizard-hunter of his time.

They all looked back at the front as a small man stepped forward. His face had a distinguished look, pride and honor shining through his hard eyes. He didn't smile or utter a sound. He just stared at the mass of students, evaluating them in his mind, classing them. It was extremely obvious the man was powerful as he had the same aura of power Dumbledore possessed.

After a little while he simply sat back down in his chair. Whispering started to take up when the Headmaster called for the prefects to lead the students back to their dorms. He got up and followed Percy, Ginny's brother, to the Gryffindor tower, pondering on the headmaster's word.

Dumbledore had clearly said the last teacher had died last year and suspiciously made it sound like it had happened at school. He remembered the thing Luna had said about his brother killing a teacher affected by wrackspurt. He shook the idea out of his head. Luna didn't know his brother after all.

As they entered the common room, Harry bid Ginny a good night and climbed into his dormitory. He entered the dorm and saw he was the first one arrived. He directly went to his bunk and crashed into the bed, letting out a sigh of pure tiredness. The day had been exhausting for him. As he changed into his nightclothes he thought about all the time Luna had been right about a person and decided to search the next day in the library about wrackspurt.

**A/N : Hope you enjoyed the chapter, we're finally at Hogwarts and the beginning of the first arc. Next chapter should come in the next week or so. **

**Don't forget to review if you have any comments/questions/helpful advice about the story.**

**Frecto**


	4. Chapter 3

Harry woke up with a start to the sound of someone's alarm ringing loudly through the room, waking up the whole first year dormitory. He blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to rid himself of the blurry, morning vision. He sat up just as another tall brown-haired boy, threw an alarm clock out from the window.

Harry stared at the complete madness going on within the room. A small blond was frantically throwing all of his clothes out of his trunk, his camera on his neck balancing with the exaggerated movement. Two dark-haired students were wrestling on the ground for some unknown reason and a brown-haired boy was shouting excuses at someone outside. It appeared the alarm had landed on someone's shoulder.

Harry sighed in the craziness of the morning. He would give nothing more than the cold efficiency of the Ravenclaw house here. He actually considered crawling back inside his covers and trying his hand at some sort of silencing charm, but a look at the clock on the wall discarded the idea. It was seven and thirty o'clock in the morning, he was already late to breakfast.

He quickly began to change into his school robes as one of the two wrestlers, the winner, went into the bathroom to take a quick shower, leaving the loser panting on the floor, attempting to retake his breath after a particularly wicked choke hold.

The blond guy, who looked like a small mouse, hurried outside the door, clutching his camera in his hand. The brown-haired boy chuckled and looked at Harry, a smirk on his young face. He had a distinctive look, one he had seen in his dad's pictures. The boy was completely confident in himself.

"Weird lad that one, he's all hung up on your brother, wouldn't shut up about it last night" said the smirking boy

Harry sighed again. He really felt like he was doing that all the time now. "I'm actually going to live with a fanatic of my brother? Brilliant, just brilliant," he finished sarcastically.

The other boy laughed openly, extending his hand towards Harry, "I'm Don McCullivan"

Harry smiled at Don, "Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you." They shook hands firmly. Harry finished dressing up and exited the dorm, followed by Don.

"So… That was an eventful morning" commented Harry.

"Yeah, well, I don't think it's going to get any better soon"

Harry huffed as they reached the Common room, completely empty, everyone already eating in the Great Hall. They exited the Gryffindor Tower, Harry making sure to say a polite good morning to the Fat Lady guarding the entrance.

"I mean, I get the whole being late thing is probably going to repeat itself, but the whole alarm throwing and the wrestling match on the floor is a bit much for seven in the morning," Don laughed, shaking his head.

"Well, the alarm isn't going to get thrown again, it's completely destroyed. Not my fault either mate, technology is doing weird things in here."

Harry smirked, already knowing the answer. It was written clearly in the book Hogwarts: A History. "Magic interferes with technology, it goes haywire. That's why we still use candles in 1991. It is theorized that the technology is actually a way of recreating magic in an artificial way, breaking the natural laws of magic. I read something fascinating in a book in my…" Harry trailed off seeing Don gaping at him.

"Bloody hell, you're sure that you aren't in Ravenclaw mate?" said the shocked boy.

Harry frowned slightly, his envy to go into Ravenclaw climbing a step up. "That bloody hat disagreed with you it seems."

Don threw his arm on the shorter boy's shoulders a carefree grin on his face, "Hey, at least with the guys in the dormitories, your life isn't going to be that bad."

Harry grinned a bit at that as they approached the Great Hall "Yeah, care to explain to me the thing with the wrestling match?"

"Well, they're best friends that take everything as a competition. You should have seen them competing to be the last asleep, they stayed up so late, I found them still sitting on the floor asleep this morning."

Harry laughed at his new roommates antics. Yeah, maybe it wouldn't really be that bad being into Gryffindor. At least, he wouldn't get bored.

They entered the Great Hall, taking in the sight of the whole body of students eating hungrily their breakfast, each of the houses segregated by their own tables.

However, there was a single exception- the blond girl wearing a blue Ravenclaw tie, sitting calmly at the Gryffindor table chatting with a red-haired witch dreamily. Harry shook his head in resignation. Of course Luna would not respect any social conventions. He honestly should have expected it.

His brother was on the other side of Luna and was waving his arms at him, obviously calling him over.

He made his way straight to the places next to Ginny and his brother, obviously reserved for him. Don sat on the other side of Ginny, eyeing with a curious glance both Luna and Philip.

"Everyone, that's Don. Don that's Ginny, Luna and my brother and his friends," Harry introduced. Presentations done, he served himself a healthy portions of pancakes on his plate.

Ginny poked him on his arm, making him turn to her, "You missed McGonagall giving the schedules. She was pissed so I told her you were sick." she gave him a small folded stack of papers.

Harry smiled at her warmly. He knew he could always count on her to bail him out when he messed up. They had a small system in place to help the other evade suspicions, making up alibis for the other. It was especially helpful when Ginny decided to help her brothers and induce complete chaos in her house.

He looked at his schedule, his brother watching over his shoulder. Philip whistled, "Bloody Hell, you begin with double Defense against the Arts. You're going to be Acker's first class."

Harry cringed at that. It was notorious that first classes from a new teacher were the worst, the teacher being too much stressed out of his mind to actually teach something useful.

"I think it'll be nice to have a class together in the morning. It will change our mind away from the vampire army Fudge is building to tear down Great Britain" the pensive voice of Luna chimed in.

Harry and Ginny chuckled at the complete confusion on Philip and Don's faces. Hermione looked like she just ate bad food, frowning straight at Luna, who's face remained unchanged.

"Don't worry guys, it's just Luna. You'll get used to it," said Ginny, still chuckling at them. Phillip nodded while still looking oddly at Luna, as if unsure for once of what to say.

Don, however, had the biggest smile on his face as he alternated his head from Ginny to Luna, "Already great team you got there Harry, the perfect accomplice and the weirdest girl in the school. The number of pranks you could pull in here… it would be glorious."

Luna took the comment in stride and smiled politely at Don as Ginny abruptly turned her attention to Harry's roommate, her interest piqued. After all, pranks were almost a family business.

Harry listened to his brother giving him his survival tips about Hogwarts, which were easily summarised as don't fraternise with the snakes and don't make waves in Snape's class and he would be fine. He was in the middle of explaining his previous exploits in the ongoing war to Slytherin when the teachers called for the first class.

As they got up, Ginny and Don were still engaged in a devious planning session. Harry cringed at the ideas being thrown around. If even half the pranks happened, The Hogwarts' population had something to fear.

They all exited the Great Hall, the first years walking to the Defense class while Philip and the others headed to the dungeon, apparently beginning with Snape. As they separated, Philip grabbed Harry apart.

"Listen, I don't know the guy you're going to meet, but there's a thing here called the Defense Curse. Each year they change teacher in that classroom. And let's just say, that most of the good teachers are already gone in that subject."

Harry was a little unnerved by the serious look on his brother's face. He had never seen his brother with that much concentration and drive behind his eyes. It then hit him like a brick. His brother already had a full year in a school full of magical students. It was highly probable that he had seen things Harry would never expect. He didn't know what, but his brother had changed from his last years' experience. He just wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked uncertainly. Philip's intense look was enough to make him nervous.

"What I mean is, be careful. There are a lot of things going on in this castle and you don't want to experience half of it." His tone changed back to his normal cheerful self "Take care, and don't forget, we have a dinner to mom's tonight."

Harry watched his brother walk away, his weird, ominous words rolling around in his mind. He only hoped his brother would be fine on his own. Ginny grabbed him by the shoulders and, not stopping her conversation with Don, dragged him towards the Defense Against the Dark Arts.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Philip walked back to his friends, ignoring the slightly worried look on Hermione's face. She always had been more attentive than the other boys. He listened to the playful banter between Neville and Ron instead, keeping quiet. He knew they would worry if he said anything, so he kept everything to himself. He still was the loud cheerful idiot athlete, but he also was a bit more serious and dark than before.

The nightmares didn't help in the slightest. He would sometimes end up tossing and turning in his bed, thinking about the horrors of the last year. It had been just like an incredibly frightful movie. Ron had been injured playing the chess match and Hermione opted to stay back. And to act as the second wave should the others failed. When he finally reached the Philosopher's stone, he was confronted by his teacher, who happened to be possessed by the worst person possible.

Voldemort had apparently survived the night in 1981 that had killed Remus Lupin. His friends tried to intervene between the Dark Lord and the frozen in place Philip, but it had been useless. In less than five seconds he was standing over his friends' unconscious forms lying on the ground, staring at them in absolute horror. He watched with complete and utter fright as Voldemort flung a piece of debris straight at him. Philip was still completely frozen and was mercifully saved by the timely intervention of his mother and Professor McGonagall. Voldemort didn't even try to attack both witches at the same time in the body of a normal wizard without his own power. He had just fled, killing Quirrel on the spot.

Philip had pushed himself completely into Quidditch training, trying to forget that night. He hadn't been prepared to fight, he wasn't strong enough to protect his friends. He had been completely useless and could have gotten his friends killed. That was why he had contacted Sirius during at the end of July and asked for his training to accentuate. James and Lily generally taught him basic defense techniques and Sirius would teach useful jinx and other harmless curses. They were useful in defense against the others in this school, but a simple Rictusempra wouldn't help him against real wizard.

Sirius had been hesitant to go behind his best friends' back but he ultimately understood and taught him multiple things. How to power a spell, and how to control a spell. The main example was the Cutting curse. In its normal form taught in school, it was simply a spell powerful enough to cut through a thin sheet of paper or some ropes. However, as Sirius demonstrated, if you poured enough power in it, you could as easily cut a person in half. They had worked all summer on his power and control, trying to make it the best possible, before Hogwarts. Philip was still feeling guilty to have lied to his parents and siblings, but they would just interpose themselves between him and his training.

He knew his friends well and they had taken him apart last night to talk him into having friends' training. Apparently, he wasn't the only one that had been affected by the events in June.

It didn't stop him from worrying him. It was already something to worry for his friends, but he now had a brother, an incredibly genius brother, but still an untrained and innocent younger brother. If Malfoy started something with him, he wouldn't be able to defend himself.

So as he descended down to Snape and the Slytherins, he couldn't help but think that his brother was ill equipped to be at Hogwarts.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

They arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom early. Ginny already knew where they were going, the benefits of having had six older brothers was starting to show, and they arrived first at in the classroom. Apparently, they had even arrived before their own teacher as the classroom was closed and locked. Opting to sit on the floor, the little group sat down a couple of feet next to the door, chatting about their expectations of this class.

"I really hope we're going to learn some new wicked spells, I need some leverage against the twins for their annual Christmas pranks," said Ginny, a scary gleam in her eyes. Harry cringed, imagining the war that could ensue in the Weasley family because of that. His best friend was scary sometimes.

"I think we're going to learn about every Dark creature and how to defeat them. Imagine the practical exam, fighting a dragon heroically," Don imagined.

"Are you mad? You really think they are going to bring dragons into a school? They're supposed to teach us, not kill us," snorted Ginny. Her brother Charlie was in Romania working with those beasts and from what Harry had heard, it took multiple fully-trained dragon-handlers to even handle a weakened one.

All subsequent arguments cut short as most of the other students arrived in a single group, having followed a prefect to the class. However, there was something weird from the number of people there.

"Hey Luna, didn't you say Ravenclaws were in the same class as us?" asked Ginny, eyeing the crowd of students chatting excitedly about their first class.

The blond-haired girl nodded her expression still as absent as ever. Don hid his smile at the movement. It did take some times to be used to the strange girl and Harry wasn't sure he himself was completely used to her.

"Because there are Hufflepuffs in there too," said Ginny, confused. Harry observed the crowd more closely and knew she was right. Mixed with the Ravenclaws and the Gryffindors, the Hufflepuffs were there, chatting amongst themselves, eyeing the others suspiciously.

Harry was confused. He knew the classes were at most two houses at the same time, never three. Don cracked a joke to the group, trying to ease the confused tension in the group, "Hey be happy guys, at least, they actually put Slytherin alone in a class. We now have a target devoid of collateral damage!"

At that, Ginny perked up, clearly interested. The prospect of pranks was always one sure to distract a Weasley from a problem.

However, further plans of attacking the Slytherins were shut down when a small group of them arrived at the class, following a tall slender prefect with a sneer on his face.

"Huh, look at that" he said, "all the maggots assembled in one place. And they even have their own Weasley mascot!"

Harry could feel the red beginning to creep on Ginny's face. She always had been susceptible, especially about her family. He put a hand on her shoulder, warning her to not attack a student several years older than her on their first day.

However, Don had the situation firmly under his control. "Hey, look guys, the slimy lot have arrived and they brought their big brother? What, you suck so much you can't even walk on your own?"

The Slytherin prefect didn't acknowledge the insult, but Harry thought he saw a slight drop of respect behind his apparent disgust. However, a boy in the front obviously took the offense with great prejudice. He walked forward, his angered face focusing on Don who looked totally non-plussed. He had almost crossed the distance, when a clear voice rang out in the hall.

"Get back to your house, Mr. Harper. You should do well to remember that fighting in the hall is a severely punishable infraction. And you, mister McCullivan, do not antagonize your classmates needlessly."

Everyone turned toward the now open door to see Professor Acker standing in the door, his straight figure looked hard as a solid wall. He looked positively powerful. His aura of authority immediately suppressed any rebellion intention from Harper, as he walked back slowly to his group, glaring with daggers straight at Don. Harry was surprised by Don. He knew Don was a nice social guy, but he hadn't taken him to be a master of witty replies. He supposed he even showed his Gryffindor courage, not batting an eye when an angry Harper was clearly walking to him to start a fight.

"Now that all the excitement is cleared out, would everyone please follow me inside so we can start the class."

Not waiting a moment, he walked back immediately inside the room. Every student looked on for about three seconds, staring at the now empty space, before rushing to the door.

The room had been arranged so that all the desks formed a big circle. After a couple of minutes, everyone was finally seated at their desk, Acker standing in the middle of the circle looking less than impressed by their difficulties at the door. When the last one was seated, a shy looking Ravenclaw, he began the class swiftly, not losing a minute more.

"Welcome to the course Defense Against the Dark Arts. Where you'll learn about some of the world's creature and how to counter them." Harry's excitement dropped like a rock. It appeared to be exactly what Philip had told him about. He wouldn't learn about any wicked spells or battle any dragons. They would actually learn about Doxies other nuisances. It was almost like a housekeeping class to quote Philip.

"However," continued Acker in his clear and low voice, "I find this class to be completely useless. If you want a class against Doxies, you can get a book to the library, I heard it's free. This class is called Defense Against the Dark Arts. We will learn how to fight the Dark Forces of this world. Obviously, the dark creatures are a part of this curriculum, but it is only a small part. Learning how to defend yourself, how to identify and understand Dark magic is the main skills we will learn in this class. It is, in my personal opinion, completely crucial to master these subjects in depth before graduating. This is the planning for the next years under my care. Understand that this has been accepted as the new curriculum for the class by the school board. If I am unable to teach next year, this curriculum will still be applied." He flicked his wand to his desk, a stack of papers floating to him before separating and landing on each desk.

Harry looked at the planning. It was separated into four parts instead of seven like the number of years at Hogwarts. He raised his hand and asked the reason why it was only divided in four.

"It's quite simple Potter, this class isn't in function of your years. It's in function of where you are in the subjects. For instance, right now every class is in the Introduction unit from the first years to the seventh. However, I'll test each class and put them where they belong as a whole. It's the reason I'm only taking two classes per year. You will have this same class for each of your years in Hogwarts. You'll advance together or you'll fail together."

Stunned silence resonated in the room. Harry was speechless. It was an incredible way of teaching. It could also lead to some extremely hard situation. If a Slytherin was lacking behind, no Gryffindor would in their right mind try to help him. It was deviously perfect. It stopped classes to advance to much, while not taking refuge behind the old 'This is for older than you'.

Acker continued, not perturbed by anything. "The sections are separated in four categories. The first is the Introduction. It is followed by Defense and Attack, Battles and Strategies and finally Dark Arts and Dark Lords. The last section will only be studied with people having passed their OWL with a resounding O and subjected to a thorough mental evaluation. To learn about the Dark Arts, you have to learn some yourself and I will not teach to any mentally unstable student about the sickest magic existing. Any questions?"

Ginny immediately threw her hand in the air, her eyes narrowed at the teacher. It was no wonder, the Weasley were famous for their hate of anything Dark.

"Sir, why would we learn about that… magic in school, isn't that forbidden?" she sneered, disgust dripping from her expression, showing her distaste to even consider learning that kind of magic.

Acker merely nodded at the question, "The only reason you should learn about it is exactly because it's the sickest form of magic existing. To properly combat a Dark Lords, you have to know what they are actually able to do. We are not going to be creating Inferi each week, but we will examine and study those subjects closely. Now if that's all, I want all of you to answer the test I will be posing at the best of your abilities. We will be looking back at it later."

He flicked his wand another time, sending a bigger stack of papers on each desk. Harry quickly took his quill and begun the exam. He smirked as he checked the questions over. He already knew almost all of this stuff. He started to write, feeling in his element.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry was completely exhausted when the day finally ended, leaving a beat Harry wandering the halls in search of his mother's office. The day had gone very well for him. He had finished the test in Defense quickly, about ten minutes faster than any other students in his class. The questions were easily answerable if you had read a bit on the subject. Harry had, having nothing other than that to do at his house for the past year.

Then he had gone in transfiguration. He smiled when he thought back on his performance in the class. He had apparently earned his father's talent in transfiguration. The exercise had been to transfigure a pencil with a different texture. The main thing all of them did was to mostly change the surface of the wood to be rougher. Harry watched closely Ginny trying to change it to a different thing unsuccessfully. Don hadn't even managed to transfigure anything.

Harry didn't move his wand for the better part of the hour, simply examining closely his friends trying to transfigure the surface of the pencil until he felt he had deducted the way to do it from all their tries. With a simple flick of his wrist he transformed the pencil in a complete metal rod. Professor McGonagall was impressed enough to award points to her own house, making Harry blush.

He had just quit Herbology, and even if he was intelligent, he just wasn't talented in this particular domain. Plants had a natural dislike of him, just like animal did. The number of times animals normally tame and harmless tried to attack him was countless.

He arrived in front of his mom's office, his robes completely dirty with grass and earth, his hair messily falling in his face, a small grin on his face. It had been a fun while tiring day for the young man.

He knocked on the door. He heard some shuffling around and barely had the time to step back when the door opened brutally, his mother engulfing his in a crushing hug. His father was a couple of feet behind her, shaking his head at his wife's enthusiasm. She would choke her poor son if he didn't intervened.

"Let him go darling, his lips are getting blue" he joked, as his wife released Harry, looking a bit sheepish. Harry gave his father a quick hug before entering the room. The living spaces of teachers were obviously bigger than the students' own. The bedroom in the far corner was closed off with a curtain, separating it from the kitchen and the small living room. He had been here before, last year when his brother got in trouble the day of Harry's birthday.

He dropped on the sofa with a relieved sigh. He yawned while his parents joined him in the living room, sitting in another couch in front of him.

His mother beamed at him, "So how was the first day? Make any friends? How were your classes? Did you understand the subjects? Do you need help? I'm sure I can explain it to you!"

James shook his head with playful sigh. Of course Lily would barrage him with question. She was really a bit too enthusiastic at times.

Harry raised his hand in a placated manner at his mother, "One question at a times mom, I can't answer if I can't remember half the question."

Lily shrugged, not bothered at all by her own quirks. "Alright, so tell me from the beginning!"

Harry described his train ride, omitting the small moment with Daphne. Her mother didn't need to worry about it; he prevented the manipulation before it even happened anyway. When he told them about the weird situation he woke up in that morning, his father simply laughed.

"It really typical in the Gryffindor's dorms. You're lucky you don't have any pranksters in your room." He stopped talking when his wife glared at him. Harry shook his head in amusement; his father was always remonstrated when he talked about his previous antics as a teenager in Hogwarts. Apparently, his mother didn't thought that pranking was a valuable pass time. Figures. She probably spent too much time with the Weasley's mother.

"So, Harry, I heard you've already started to impress your teachers. Minerva had only praise for you after a class." Lily smiled proudly at her son. Minerva McGonagall was generally tight lipped about first class performance, preferring to wait and see. She had been however impressed enough to vocally tell her.

James was intrigued, he knew very well how hard it was to obtain compliments from his old Transfiguration teacher, "What did you do? She still has her old changing the surface of a pencil exercise, right?"

Harry nodded and reached down in his robes, searching for a pencil. He laid it on the table after locating it in a ripple of his robes. He drew his wand and closed his eyes, calling his magic forth from inside him. After feeling the already familiar surge of power in his being, he opened his eyes and moulded it instinctively to change the nature of the object in front of him. He flicked the wand over the pencil and it changed into another metal rod.

His father gaped at him, obviously impressed by the magic he had just proven capable on his first day.

However, before any of them could say anything, the door opened suddenly, letting an irate Philip in the room. His face contracted in anger, he let himself fall on the sofa beside Harry. Only then he remarked his parents and brother looking at him with worry. He let out a simple sigh before smiling brightly to them, like he didn't just enter the room with the proverbial cloud over his head.

"What was that," asked Lily, worry dripping from her tone.

Philip simply smiled, "Just Slytherins being assholes."

James nodded understanding while Lily chided her oldest son about treating others better. Harry ignored all of it; he concentrated only on his brother. It was clearly something else in addition of a normal Slytherins encounter or else he would be actually happy. Maybe the blond kid manage to push him around or something. Harry mentally shrugged; his brother was older than him, he didn't need to worry about him being in trouble with anyone. He could look after himself.

Lost in his thoughts, he came back to the surface when his father snapped his fingers next to his ear making him flinch. He looked at the others who had obviously finished their previous discussion and were staring at him, waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, missed the question, care to repeat?" asked Harry sheepishly at his parents.

His mother asked her question again, obviously amused by his inattention, "I wanted to know your opinion about the new teacher."

Harry straightened up, "I quite like him. I really, really, really like the whole new program put in place for the student, he seems fair and he obviously has years of experience"

Philip snorted "Did you listen to him closely? He wants us to advance as a whole! Hermione almost fainted when she heard the news."

Harry frowned "Well, what's bad about it? It mainly means we'll all have the same skill when we graduate"

James intervened in the quickly developing argument, "Well, I wasn't there myself, but I feel that it's not really fair. Especially for the people that already passed their OWL. They're relegated to the bottom, even for just a class. And they are not even admissible if they are not an O with a mental state stable. That's bigger than the expectation we put on Auror recruits."

Harry simply shrugged. He admitted the required notes to go all the way on the Fourth stage were a bit over the top, but for the material they would be seeing, it was normal to expect a lot. He simply changed the subject, not caring to defend his point any more than necessary against the dynamic duo of his father and brother.

After all, it was simply a Defense class. It wasn't as if they would really encounter Dark wizards in their life.

**A/N : Hope you liked the chapter! **

**I want to thank the wonderful Butterflygirly99 for her awesome Beta work on this chapter! **

**Don't forget to leave a review if you have any commentary/theories/criticism/questions :)**

**See you next time**

**Frecto.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here's the next chapter guys, hope you enjoy it! Like always, don't hesitate to tell me your opinions about the story! Thanks again to my wonderful beta, butterflygirly99 for your help! **

Harry and Philip sped through the now deserted hallways. They were careful to be silent, not wanting to be caught by the horrid caretaker, Mr. Finch. Harry had heard his brother and father's tales about the disgusting man and wasn't exactly looking forward to meet him.

Dinner with their parents had passed quickly enough and the family was happy to be reunited. Harry smiled as he remembered his father's antics and his mother's gentle smile. He was aware that it would be a while until he would be able to see his father again, as he was going back on an assignment that would take a few weeks. Some weirdo had apparently been running around the Scottish country, leaving a trail of Muggles bodies behind him.

While this was revolting, Harry couldn't help but be interested by his father's work. He never lied to him about the stuff going on with his job, always repeating the same thing to Lily when she protested, "Better to be aware of the disturbing side of reality than to be caught unaware."

However, it had always seemed like stories to him. He had never seen a body or known anyone who had died. He just listened to his father describing the hunt for criminal with wide eyes, like a kid reading horror stories. It was basically that for him, his father the narrator of the story and the hero at the same time.

Harry glanced to Phillip as they ran up the stairs leading to the Gryffindor's common room. He had noticed a slight change in Phillip, enough to actually be noticeable. He was still the same person, the same boy always prone to get in trouble. Behind his smiles and jokes however, lied something new. Philip had always been a determined kid, always getting fired up for many things – mainly Quidditch. But as Harry observed his brother running alongside him silently, a new kind of determination was filling his eyes, his jaw set in stubbornness and his brows furrowed. Not for the first time since the end of the last semester he whished he knew exactly what happened at Hogwarts.

Harry wasn't an imbecile by any standard. He was smarter than average wizard, his keen eyes already used to decipher people. He always found it easy to read into someone else's intentions and feelings. He had noticed easily that something happened to his brother. His smile had been strained and not quite reaching his eyes for the few beginning weeks of the summer and while that worried the younger sibling, he also was a pretty discreet person. He knew this wasn't really his business.

Still intrigues him though.

They reached the common room, quickly uttering the password and being let through the passageway to the warm red and gold common room. A couple of older students were sleeping on the couches, one half on the ground as he had fallen asleep while reading a book. Philip didn't give the scene a second glance as he climbed the stairs to the dorms.

Harry finally bid his brother goodbye as he entered his dorm. He sighed in exasperation when he saw the state of their dormitory. Half a wall was now occupied by pictures and articles about his brother, evidently the work of the small blond sleeping in the nearest bunk. The two dark-haired best friends had apparently continued their bets as both were slouched against the wall, standing up while sleeping. He rolled his eyes as he made his way to his bed, making sure not to step on some sort of substance staining the carpet.

He fell on his bed and covered himself with the covers, his eyes closing. He really had no idea how the room would survive the week, let alone seven years of their continuing presence.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Rise and shine, princess"

Harry groaned as he tried to re-adjust his pillow over his head, blocking the sudden light and sound from disturbing his sleep anymore. Sadly, his tormentor wouldn't take a no for answer as he ripped the covers from the slumbering form of Harry.

Shivering from the sudden cold chill, he threw his pillow directly at the place he perceived his aggressor to be. He stood up and realized he had completely missed his target by several feet. Don wsa standing at the foot of the bed, looking amused at the poor pillow throw,

"You know, if you throw pillows at me for making sure you're not late to class, I'll just leave you to your problems"

Harry straightened up slightly at his words, his eyes searching the clock on the wall. However, the small white clock had apparently disappeared during the night as the wall was completely lacking any device. Harry only raised an eyebrow, wondering if he really wanted to know what happened with the clock.

Don had apparently watched his glance toward the wall because he chuckled at Harry, shaking his head before muttering the Tempus charm, making the time appear in the air.

Harry was impressed, he hadn't took Don for someone who would take some advance on his classes and while the Tempus charm was one of the most basic and easy charm one could learn, that still meant he had at least looked over his books. As Harry's focus turned back on the hovering numbers in the air, a panicked feeling took hold of him.

The first class of the day would begin in barely ten minutes!

"Shit, we're going to be late!" shouted Harry in panic as he fumbled with his case, looking frantically to get dress the quickest possible.

Don only shrugged at him, his disinterested look glancing to the window, "Meh, it's really not a problem. We can get to the Great Hall to get some fast breakfast before going to class. We'll just say we got lost."

Harry stopped his head turning to Don in disbelief, "You do know we are beginning the day with a double class of Potions?"

Don blanched immediately, understanding the major threat looming on the horizon. "Bugger" he muttered under his breath, as he whirled around, dashing out of the room.

Harry couldn't blame him as he finished putting on his wizard robes and followed through quickly. You really didn't want to be late on your first session with the Potions' professor, Severus Snape.

He had heard stories from his brother and most of the men in the family about his despicable persona, his hate of everything that had the name Potter and his slimy greased hair, mostly from a drunk Sirius at the funniest Christmas party Harry ever had. The man had finished the night passed out with the remains of the tree he fell in.

His mother and Lupin, however, told him the same warning, their words probably more true than the insults and generalizations that the others were throwing around. Apparently, Snape was his mom's friend, and while pretty strict when talking about potions, he was insanely knowledgeable about many aspects of wizarding.

Coupled that with the rumors he had heard since his arrival at the school made Harry unwilling to arrive late for even a minute for this class, unless he had suicidal tendencies.

Harry ran like Voldemort himself was chasing him, flying over whole staircases as he jumped them, concentrating his energy on arriving on time. He could see Don running in front of him, his robes whirling in the air after him. Harry frowned at the boy as he doubled his efforts to catch up with him.

Harry was feeling unwell inside, fear gripping his entire being. Snape had almost become a mythic figure in his family, his darker side being exaggerated at each occasion. It got even worse when his brother came back for the holidays as all the stories and the insults became real when his brother told him about the verbal abuse Snape attack the Gryffindor. Harry was used to this fear, he wasn't the courageous one in the family. While his brother was the bravest kid that always was willing to try everything, he was more the quiet, cowardly kid that preferred reading about a subject than to try and experiment with it.

However, his mother had once said something that soothed him a bit. Snape highly valued knowledge, he respected the bright and despised the slow. Harry's mind finally calmed down. He would only need to show Snape his brilliance.

They managed to find the entrance to the dungeons quickly, only getting lost once. They reached the potions classroom, pausing in front of the door, catching their breaths before entering the room. Harry looked oddly at Don as the boy seemed a bit warmed, his breathing already steadying while Harry was heaving like he just had an asthma attack.

Don looked at Harry, apprehension, clear on his face. "You ready?" Harry nodded, his mind set on making a good impression on the feared teacher.

They opened the door and entered the class. The room had a distinct dark look, almost misty. It was almost as if all the lighting of the room was being absorbed, the only light source was the candles hovering from the ceiling. Harry sighed in relief as he saw that professor Snape hadn't yet entered the room. Don and him quickly took the remaining seats in the Gryffindor's side of the room, while the Ravenclaws looked over them with rolling eyes and haughty looks.

Ginny mock-glared at Harry, hitting the boy's shoulder with a weak punch, "Are you even going to try and make it on time one day?"

Harry grinned at her sheepishly, but before he could answer the door at the end of the room opened suddenly, making Harry's blond roommate – the one that was completely obsessed by his brother- flinch violently, his camera always straped on his shoulders hitting the side of his obviously low quality cauldron.

The man that had just entered was obviously Severus Snape, the school potion master and the teacher of this class. The man was as intimidating as Harry had imagined, his black robes training after him. His black almost greasy hair were slicked back under his ears. The man sneered at the now cowering student, walking deliberately slow toward his desk.

"Now, now" said Snape, his words filled with almost tangible disgust and a small amount of amusement, "What is the name of this… fumbling idiot?"

The blond boy quivered in his seat as he answered the question, obviously intimidated by the man's reputation, "I-I'm C-Colin Creevy, sir"

Snape nodded to himself at the boy's answer, looking like what Colin had just said explained his actions, "Hah, I should have known."

He walked back his desk, whipping out a parchment from his robes, "Alright, welcome to your first class of Potions. Here you will learn the many effects of the ingredients and the potions you can create with them as well as the procedure of potion making. I am not expecting a lot of you to show any talent in this particular area, the higher intelligence required for potions is not often found in such worthless brats as yourselves. This class is obligatory until at least your O.W.L. Tests, so I would recommend making an effort not to make an ass of yourself in this class." He sighed as he started to take attendance.

Harry frowned at the teacher in front of him. He had always thought his dad and brother had been exaggerating when they told him about his arrogance. The man didn't appear to be the follower of knowledge his mother had told him about.

Harry tensed as the teacher came close to his name. If his brother had told him the truth, which he normally did, except if he was covering for his and his friends' antics, the teacher would probably try and make an example of him in front of the whole class. However, this year wasn't some overexcited Quidditch prodigy sitting in his chair. Harry steeled himself as he saw Snape's attention drift from the list, his eyes resting on him.

"Well, would you look at that! We have the other Potter right here, the brother of one of this school's most useless student!" Some people chuckled from the Ravenclaw's side, obviously already not fans of his brother, probably because of his popularity amongst students.

Harry could see Colin tensing in outrage, obviously not taking well Snape's jibes. He could even feel, surprisingly, both Ginny and Don tensing next to him, clearly unhappy with their friend being singled out. It surprised Harry, because while he had known Ginny for all of his life, he had only met Don a day ago.

Unfortunately, Snape wasn't done with him, "So, Mister Potter, I am wondering if you are as much as a complete waste as your dear brother. Where could I find a bezoars, if I searched one?"

Harry relaxed slightly as he grinned, full of confidence. Snape hadn't even bothered to ask different questions than he had asked his brother last year. Harry could see in the corner of his eyes that even some Ravenclaw had raised their hands looking at him with an air of superiority

"It's a stone that can be found in the stomach of a goat. Its healing proprieties are unmatched as it can save someone from most poisons."

Snape raised an eyebrow at him, but continued on without so much as blinking, "What is the difference between monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

Harry's ginned widened in a full-fledged smile, "That's a trick question, they're the same plant"

Harry could see how impressed most of the Gryffindors were and the smug grin Ginny had on her face. Some groans of deception could be heard amongst the hopeful Ravenclaw in the class; they were obviously hoping Harry would make a fool of himself.

Snape's smirk weakened before muting in a crueller, scarier grin, "I see. A last question, Mister Potter. What does the Polyjuice potion looks like?"

Harry's confident smile froze in place as the question registered in Harry's mind. He was positively sure there had been no question on Polyjuice last year or even in the whole first year and second year book on potions. He knew, he had read those fully already. His mind frantically whirled around, searching for the knowledge he hoped he had read somewhere. He could already see the Ravenclaws' grins at his failure to find an answer, the disappointment in Ginny and Don's eyes.

Then, as sudden as lightning, he remembered his mother brewing a potion for his father's work, to change appearance she had told him. He would always remember the muddy looking potion in her cauldron. He mentally shrugged, this was the closest he could find of a potion other then in his books.

"Hum, I, huh, think it's… like mud?" he said, uncertain of the answer.

Snape's eyes widened fractionally, and he nodded to him, "Yes, this is a gross approximation, but correct nonetheless. Five points for Gryffindor. It would appear you took after your mother's side more than your brother did."

He continued through the list, not stuck with Harry only, having seemingly accepted the boy in his class. Harry smiled as he stopped listening to the man standing in front of the class, now finished with the class list.

Maybe this class wouldn't be so bad after all.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry sat in the common room, listening to Don and Ginny talking passionately about the first prank they wanted to do. Don had the idea to steal the Slytherins' hats and to dye them in pink paint while Ginny wanted to plant some of her brothers' candies in their food the next morning.

Harry had no idea how any of those two plans could even be done, no student in Gryffindor knew where the Slytherin's dorms were except the vague notion of the dungeons. While he knew where the kitchen was, he also knew no elf would let them even somewhat close of the food in fear they tamper with it.

The day had passed well enough after the potions' class. He went into his first Charms class, where everything went perfectly. He honestly had trouble deciding what was his preferred subject between Transfiguration and Charms. While he loved the tight rules and the exactitude of Transfiguration, the more vague and creative Charms touched his entire being.

A hand clasped on his shoulder, making Harry flinch out of his thoughts. His brother stood behind him, looking at him oddly like he had just seen a ghost.

"Hey Phil!" greeted Harry, happy to see his brother.

"Hey Harry" answered weakly his brother, inspecting his face, loking for something.

Harry was becoming annoyed by his brother's antics. He had better things to do than having his brother stare straight at him.

"What are you doing?" Philip shook his head before shouting back to his friends, "I think he's fine, he doesn't look bewitched"

"Of course he doesn't! That's what being bewitched is for!" shouted back Ron before groaning, having received a warning hit from an exasperated Hermione.

Now Harry was worried. Why did his brother think he was bewitched? More importantly, was he? He could be, the effect of a mind control curse was probably to not being able to be noticed by the victim.

Finally, Philip grinned at him, "Nah, he must be fine, he had his worried-while-being-curious look on. No curse can imitate this particular look."

"Ok, what's going on here?" asked Ginny exasperated, not understanding a single thing. Not that Harry wasn't as much confused as she was.

"Nothing really, only the boys being stupid like always," answered Hermione as she shot a glare at a protesting Ron. Neville put his hand on Ron and shook his head; it was a lost cause.

"We just heard you have received some points from Snape from Fred and Georges. Obviously, we didn't believe them so we asked ourselves to some other Gryffindors in your year," explained Philip to his brother.

"When they assured us that it was true, we concluded that Snape had cursed you to become his mind-slave!" shouted triumphantly Ron, raising his fist in the air. Hermione sighed next to him, exasperated by the redhead.

Harry only shrugged, "Yeah, it wasn't that complicated to do, I only answered some question and he gave me points."

All three boys cringed as Hermione took a victorious air, "Hah! I told you so! You really have to take your studies more seriously! While we're on the subject, our homework for Transiguration isn't going to write itself."

Hermione practically dragged Ron and Neville behind her as she made a beeline for the lone unoccupied table.

Philip gave his brother a pat on his shoulders, bringing Harry's attention back to him, "Well done, brother. Just… be sure to be careful around him, he's not completely… well, normal."

With those parting words, Philip walked back to his group of friends, leaving a confused Harry behind. He watched his brother sit down and begin his work for his class, completely lost. He understood that Snape would leave an impression on people, and he had proved multiple times during the class that he was willing to be cruel against students he didn't like. The man wasn't close to his heart at all, but the way his brother had said it was worrying. It wasn't just like an offhanded comment on some teacher. No, this was way more than that. His eyes had the same resolve, the same harshness he could see underneath the smile and the jokes.

Maybe what happened last year had something to do with Snape. Again, Luna's comments about his brother killing another teacher surged in is mind. Maybe it wasn't killing as much as being enemies with strong hate. He shrugged going back to the prank discussion that had started out again between his two friends. He would talk to Luna at breakfast the next day, she could probably provide more information to him.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry slouched on his bed, completely exhausted of his day. Don and Ginny had finally agreed on a variation of both pranks and had fled the common room after a discreet conversation with the Weasley twins. Harry hadn't followed them, he preferred having an alibi against the sure detention if they even managed to execute their plans.

The door of the room opened and the two dark-haired friends staggered into the room, completely disheveled and sporting some bruising. Harry raised an eyebrow at them, "What the heck happened to you guys?"

The two of them looked at each other before shrugging, "We bet that we were the strongest of the first years in Gryffindor," began the first one, harboring a swelling black eye on his right eye.

"Did you know there was an ex-national champion of martial arts in the girls of our year? We didn't!" finished the other, his nose turning a dark shade of blue.

"She completely slaughtered us, I had no idea my legs could actually bend this way!" exclaimed the first one as he limped to his bed, falling on the mattress with a relieved sigh.

The second one sat on his bed, delicately, wincing as he sat down.

"We haven't been presented, I think," said Harry, "I'm Harry Potter"

The second one nodded, "I'm Reginald and he's Adolf. Don't ask our last names, you won't be able to say it."

Harry nodded and grinned at them, "So, you guys are the two that practically destroy our dorm each day, right?"

Adolf let out a groan of pain as he redressed himself, slouching on the bed's pillars, "Well, that depends, I would argue that having photos and articles posted on the wall about your brother is more damaging to the room than what we do. Or at least, more damaging for sanity."

Harry chuckled as he looked at what he had heard Don call the Wall of Horror, being a bit creep out, like each time he looked at it. It was honestly unnerving to see the face of his brother smiling ad winking at him from several pictures.

The door opened suddenly, slamming on the opposing wall, as Don rushed into the room, crashing on his bed, covering himself with his covers.

Harry exchanged a troubled look with Reginald and Adolf before calling out to him, "Are you ok, man?"

"Y-Yeah, perfectly fine. Never have been better. If someone asks, I've been here all night," mumbled Don, as he closed his curtains. Harry only shrugged to a perplexed Adolf and Reginald, "I think his prank backfired."

Reginald raised an interested eyebrow while Adolf made some questioning noise. The poor guy had fallen back on his back and had no energy to drag himself up again.

"Pranks? Me and Dolfie always id pranks back home! Next time count us in!" said Reg, his tiredness completely disappearing at the word prank, as he began describing his previous pranks enthusiastically with some approving groans from Adolf.

Harry shook his head as he heard the two friends describing a particularly inventive prank they had played on an unsuspecting neighbor – who knew toothbrushes could be used this way. Well, he might not be in Ravenclaw as he wished, but at least, he wouldn't ever be bored. Hell, he might even find his place in here.

After all, if Hermione could support Gryffindor, he surely could.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N : Alright, I'm back! It has been a little while and all, but I was caught with a mild case of Real Life and some of lack of inspiration. I have a month of free time for now, so everything's gonna be great.**

**About the pairings. Some of you have asked many questions, most about the possibility of having a Ginny/Harry pairing. I'll address this once and for all here : It doesn't matter. I am goin for a more realistic vision of the world and in the real world, eleven years old don't become madly in love. The thing is, this story does have pairings and some of them will be pretty obvious as we go on, but they are teenagers living together in a castle that they can't leave. They will probably go out with other people before being with the one they finish with (If there is such a person). **

**Finally, there is also the fact that this isn't a Romance story. It will contain some romance, as much as I can write, but it isn't going to be the focus of this story. If you are only here to follow a certain pairing, I'm afraid this isn't the story for you :( **

**Now that this is done, let's go on with our story!**

The next morning was more subdued than their previous ones. It probably had to do with the fact that both Adolf and Reginald were too sore to enter another physical fight or a competition to see which one could stop breathing the longest. Harry shook his head at that thought. It probably wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

Don looked quite nervous as he tugged his robes, looking frequently at the door, as if somehow a magical monster would break in and try to kill them. He flinched harshly when Colin dropped a book on the floor, whipping out his wand.

Harry frowned at the move, because even if they hadn't learned anything to use in a fight, and doubted Don had learned such magic by himself, it was still overly aggressive for the laidback boy.

Harry cleared his throat, "Hey mate, are you alright?"

Don gave him a quick glance before returning to staring at the door, "Yeah, I'm fine. We should get going, we'll miss breakfast"

Harry shrugged. He had asked the man if he was fine, no need to worry more in his book. He grabbed his books for his morning classes and opened the door, half expecting to see some sort of angry vampire or a raving werewolf. He turned back to Don, who had somehow managed to regain his composure, his face carefully blank of any emotion.

Don and Harry quickly made their way down to the Great Hall. As Harry was about to enter the giant room, Don grabbed his arm, pulling him to the side. His face now showed all the nervousness Harry had seen in the dormitories.

"Alright, Harry, I need you to promise me something," said Don, giving glances back toward the opened doors leading into the Great Hall.

Harry stared at the almost shaking boy in front of him, "Huh, yeah sure."

Don looked back at him, his eyes now almost resigned to a certain fate. It was the look Harry had seen in his mother's favorite movies when the hero looked at his beloved, knowing that he wouldn't come back. That was the part that made his mother cry each time. He honestly couldn't find anything sad in those moments; it was predictable since he had been introduced in the movie. Hell, the title of the movie was 'The Death of Jones'.

"I'm going to need you to play peacemaker with Ginny for the next while," he said anxiously.

Now Harry's interest was rapidly declining and panic was filling his logical portion of the brain. You really didn't want to get on a Weasley's bad side; they would give you hell until the end of your life.

"Does it, by any chance at all, have anything that you came back from your prank yesterday in a frantic panic?" asked Harry, as he felt the dread beginning to build up in his chest. The only day he had managed to get up on time, he still wouldn't be allowed to pass a good breakfast. It was like the universe was against him or something.

Don gulped loudly, "Huh, yeah, about that. Things went… as bad as it could get."

Harry stared at him, waiting for him to finish his thoughts, but the tall boy didn't look like he intended to say anything more.

Taking a few deep breaths, Harry stepped into the Great Hall, a slightly sweating Don shadowing him. At the Gryffindor table, the second and first years were unusually subdued, generally being the most loud and animated. Luna could be seen eating at the end of the Ravenclaws' tables for the first time since they had set foot in the castle.

Amongst all the other students sat Ginny, seats free all around the redhead girl.

Harry winced mentally as he imagined the heated reaction he was going to get. They reached the free seats and after a slight hesitation, sat down in front of the fiery witch.

"H-Hey there, Ginny" said weakly Don, his voice wavering. Further along the table, his brother and Neville exchanged a knowing look before giving him a look of compassion.

Ginny didn't react, her face completely blank as she watched her food in her plate, not moving an inch.

Harry tried again to strike up a conversation, but all efforts fell flat. He was truthfully pretty relieved by the girl's silence. It was better than a full on screaming match or a complete bodily assault on Don.

Evidently, Don followed the same train of thoughts as he lost most of his nervousness and regained what made Don, Don. His smile full of confidence perked up on his face, his control over himself complete once again.

Suddenly, Ginny looked up. Harry could see behind her eyes, the fury, the insatiable anger directed towards every other living thing. Don gulped, his smile frozen on his lips as his eyes regained the aspect of a trapped doe.

"Make no mistake; you will pay for last night, McCullivan. You won't see it coming." She rose from her seat and stalked away, nothing on her face betraying the amount of aggression she felt inside.

Harry and Don exchanged a worried look before sighing in unison. It was really too much asking about normal mornings.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Their first class that morning was the second class of Defense Against the Dark Art. When Harry and Don reached the classroom, the door was opened, unlike their first class. The teacher was still absent from the classroom. Just like the last class, the chairs were arranged in a messy circle, without real care for order or method.

The class was all segregated in their different houses, looking at the others wearily, as if they were waiting for them to attack or something. Harry sighed as he took the tense atmosphere of the class in. He had hoped people would be more willing to at least ignore the others in the room, but it seemed like the general dislike and rivalry going on almost traditionally between the houses had already corrupted the first year. After all, it wasn't like it was completely false, after all, the Slytherins all seemed like his father and uncles had described.

Harry sat in his seat beside Don and another boy in Gryffindor that he hadn't yet met. He could see in the Ravenclaws' section Luna standing up, probably hoping to be able to get a seat next to him or Don.

Unfortunately for the young girl, Professor Acker entered the class, the door closing after him quietly.

"Good morning class. This is going to be your first real class of Defense Against the Dark Arts," he announced surely, his powerful voice not wavering a bit. He began to walk around the circle of students.

"As you surely had deducted yourselves, your tests results weren't conclusive enough to make you skip the first phase of the course. Even if they had been, I wouldn't have done it. You will be served better by continuing in the Introduction phase. If you want your results, you can come at the end of the class to gather it."

Harry saw many Ravenclaws shaking their heads in deception and almost burst out laughing at the thought of them actually believing a class full of gentle, but ignorant Hufflepuff and brash Gryffindor would pass well in a written exam.

"The first phase is called Introduction. I can already hear you asking me what that means exactly, what's going to be the content of the class," he whipped out his wand from his sleeve and flicked it at the board on the far side of the wall. The word INTRODUCTION wrote themselves on the board.

"Well, while I agree that the title is pretty vague, it is also as precise as it should be. In this class, we will be covering the basics of every subject that leads to the understanding of the Dark Arts. You will learn grossly how to identify Dark Magic, how to counter its most basic forms using the simplest spells. You will learn the theories, the main ideas in the fight against Dark. This is the most important you will probably hear in this whole class, and our subject for the next few weeks," he finished, finally stopping at the front of the class, every students' eyes rived on him.

"The principal thing you need to understand about the fight of the Light against the Dark is that it's almost never a fight of power or even of magic. No, each fight is completely symbolic, each side having an opinion, a philosophy that is against the other. In this class, the use of words such as Good and Bad are going to be prohibited for now on. It is grossly understating a situation to explain everything with Dark and Light."

Silence followed his words, the confusion of the students being almost palpable. Harry could see Ginny being completely lost, her mind obviously attacking the entire notion of Light not being synonymous of Good. He was honestly lost himself, his mind trying to grasp the meaning hidden behind the words. After all, everything that was light was good, right? Everything that was bad was dark, like dark wizards were always murderous bastards.

"I don't expect you to understand this, nor to prove to me that you have shown an understanding of this in your exams. You will never have to prove your understanding of this, simply because it isn't something that can be taught. You have to make your own individual experiences and mental growth to understand such a concept.

No, this class is going to be spent more efficiently. You have of course realized that the desks are voluntary arranged in a mess, mingling each houses with each other. I want you, for the whole duration of the class, to pick someone from each house, except yours, and to simply socialize, to talk about your first days in the school."

Everyone looked at Acker with wide eyes. Harry was beginning to feel irritated, his previous take on the teacher about his competency taking a hard blow. He thought this class was all about learning spells and the counter-curses necessary to battle Evil, not some crappy philosophy course about light and dark.

The teacher only raised an eyebrow at their confusion, "I think I made myself clear enough. Go on."

Slowly, students started to give the others some sneaky glances, quietly nodding to each other before forming small groups. Harry saw Luna join Don and a haughty Slytherin at some table, feeling a pang of envy. At least Don would be in good company.

A Hufflepuff, a small burly boy with stray looking blond hair, looked at him expectantly, his two other partners watching each other with suspicion. Harry sighed, before making his way to him, resigned to his fate. He would follow what a teacher would tell him, maybe some deep and intelligent understanding could be found in this exercise.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When the bell signaled the end of the class, Harry was feeling deeply irritated. He was a pretty easy-going guy, not many things could make his skin crawl. However, this class had been one of the most painful experiences Harry had ever felt. The Hufflepuff, Evan, had tried to start up conversation that had fallen through without even a decent answer from the other two participants. The Ravenclaw, a tall girl wearing glasses, had whipped out a book, completely ignoring the others. The Slytherin girl had then used each question to give out snarky and mean comments to the others.

With the Ravenclaw completely lost in her world and the Hufflepuff recoiling physically at each insults, he almost whipped out his wand and tried out a curse he had seen in one of his brother's books.

However, the teacher was apparently completely unforgiving for the use of any force. A tall Ravenclaw had tried to curse a Gryffindor not five minutes in the torture, before her wand being confiscated almost at the same time she had gotten it out of her pocket and given a detention.

Same happened not two minutes later when Ginny tried to get a smirking Harper with a nasty curse. However, unlike the Ravenclaw, Ginny hadn't let the absence of her wand block her from attacking Harper. She had jumped over the table, trying to punch his lights out. She almost got him too, but the teacher simply waved his wand and she was immobilized. He gave the class a long sermon on the stupidity to fight like muggles. She was then given a week worth of detention as a warning.

The Slytherin girl's smiled turned almost cruel as she then knew he couldn't possibly retaliate against her without earning himself the same kind of consequences and while he had been classed in Gryffindor, he wasn't the kind to let out all caution to fight against a Slytherin. He simply grinded his teeth and ignored her.

The class filled out, most of the Ravenclaws staying behind with Harry, waiting in a line in front of the teacher's desk to have their marks. Harry was the last in line, and as the others left the class, some satisfied, other bordering on tears, he approached the desk.

"Ah, Mister Potter. I am not surprised that you came to see your grades, even if you are the only Gryffindor having bothered to do it. You have, after all, a perfect mark."

Harry's frustration suddenly washed away, bubbly satisfaction taking its place.

"I am curious to know where you learned some of the things you answered. Most of these are not even covered in the first year of the old program, some are even obscure enough that no child would know it without extra-training."

Harry knew exactly which questions he was referring to. The two last questions were about live battle basic strategy. Only the most basic stuff really, a bit about flanking and how to set up a successful ambush.

"Well, I do like to read ahead, so I already finished the two first year's manuals before coming here. For the last questions, I, huh, have listened to doors when my brother was in his private training session."

Acker frowned at that, "That would explain why your brother also managed to answer to the questions successfully. What are you learning now in your private courses?"

Harry shook his head, a brief pang of sadness coursing through him before he squashed it down harshly. It was unfitting to feel jealous of his brother for having been almost murdered when he was a baby.

"I don't have any private lessons, other than basic charms from my mother and advice on transfiguration from my father. I don't really need the sessions that Philip gets anyway; I'm not the one who is going to have a target on his back his whole life."

Acker's frown however deepened, "This is surprising to me. Your brother has already approached me for private lessons, which I declined after he admitted receiving special lessons from his family. I would have thought that you received the same training as he did."

Harry only shrugged; it wasn't as if he was really in danger like his brother. He was still young; he would have time to learn these things in the future.

Acker seemed lost in his thoughts, his frown giving him a pretty menacing look on his old and scarred face. He finally emerged from his thoughts, a determined look set on his face, "While I support a fair system of learning, I also believe that it's a disservice to someone like you to not benefits from advanced classes, especially considering your position."

Harry looked at him, puzzled, "My position?"

"Even if you're not the Boy-Who-Lived, you are still his brother; you are going to be eventually targeted by his enemies. It is a tactic Dark Lords often uses in their quests to destroy Light lords. You are also the student with the highest score for the two first years in this school, outclassing some students other teachers talked about as prodigies or geniuses. Considering your talent, your need to have training, and the lack of it with your family, I offer you the occasion to learn under me directly more advances techniques and knowledge about the Dark."

Harry's heart almost stopped. This was Alexander Acker, the man responsible for having brought down the remains of Grindelwald's operation when it surfaced in the sixties, and the arrest of hundreds of Dark wizards and witches. He was a legend in his field, a man with great skills. That man had just offered to tutor him in more advanced area of Defense Against the Dark Arts. The things he could possibly learn were enough to make his head spin.

"I won't be teaching you stronger and more powerful spells, because that's not what this class is about," continued Acker, "No, this is going to be about surviving in a duel using only what you know, about creatively defend and move around. Perhaps after a few years, I will teach you the ancient spells and curses I learned during my travels."

Harry couldn't speak, only nodding. Hell, even if the man only wanted him to learn about the characteristics of a boring creature, he would have accepted. After all, wasn't this why he was in Hogwarts in the first place, to learn what couldn't be learned anywhere else?

Acker nodded to Harry, "Perfect. Tonight, make sure to be here at eight. Have a great day Mr. Potter."

Harry grabbed his things and, after thanking once again the professor, he exited the class, almost bouncing in excitement.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry shifted nervously as he raised his hand to knock on the Defense Against the Dark Arts' classroom door. He really had no expectation as to the content of the lesson; he hoped he would be doing some fighting or something.

His knuckles rasped lightly against the wood, making a small sound. The door opened by itself immediately after, letting the nervous boy to enter the classroom. The layout had been completely changed, the desks were all absent, leaving only Acker to stand in the middle of the room, alone.

He nodded to Harry, "Let's begin immediately, if you will Mr. Potter. Please stand in front of me."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, but executed nonetheless without question. He dropped his bags of books at the entrance of the room, and advanced nervously until he was about six feet in front of the professor. He stayed there, the man simply staring at him with a blank face. He was starting to feel uncomfortable under the man's gaze, when in a sudden movement; Harry was projected on his back painfully.

The boy groaned from his lumped position. He had no idea what the hell happened, he had only been standing in face of his teacher when he was suddenly flying in the air. He gave the teacher a look, before gaping at him. The man was clearly holding a wand in his right hand, pointed nonchalantly at the boy. The man's eyes were as hard and cold as steel. Harry gulped as he felt an irrational need to flee.

"What is the most important thing when you're in a fight, Mr. Potter?" asked Acker in a conversational tone. Harry scrambled up to his feet, his mind still reeling from the sudden attack.

"Huh… to send powerful spells at the enemy?" tried Harry, as he redressed his clothes.

Acker shook his head, "Strategy. Strategy is the main thing you have to develop in order to become hard to kill. You think I was able to survive under the fire of dozens of Grindelwald's men at the same time by sending stronger hexes their way? No, I tricked them; I use the environment to my advantage."

Harry nodded, a frown still etched on his face. He understood the basic of strategizing, but why the hell did the teacher just cast a spell on him? Weren't teachers prohibited from doing that normally?

The question must have been easily seen on his face because Professor Acker continued, "Do you know what you did wrong here?"

Harry gave him a shrug, while dusting himself off the ground, setting his glasses straight on his nose. Acker gave a sigh of what Harry interpreted as disappointment, "You entered the class and while I asked you to stand before me, you stood there, two feet fleetly on the ground as if you had no fear. In the real world, fights can happen everywhere and you don't really notice it happening until the first spells are off. You can't afford to let your guard down. Always stay grounded, the torso a bit twisted to show less body."

Harry placed himself in position, his body twisted sideways. Acker adjusted him until he was in the optimal angle to have a full range of movement, and still be a hard target to hit.

Acker nodded his approbation at Harry on his position, "Now, the first thing a wizard has to know how to do is to known how to hit your target. Until you can hit a moving person, you are not good enough to even consider learning the rest about wand fighting."

Acker swished his wand in a small and precise manner, making a couple of targets out of two chairs lying there. Harry noted that his movement with his wand looked extremely easy and relaxed, but were small and precise. Completely the opposite of his father's style of making large movement, it was the perfect balance between efficiency and power.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Harry passed the rest of the session shooting sparks at the two targets. He had to hit them ten times in a row before he could move back. He only made three steps back, and was beginning to feel frustrated at the targets when Professor Acker stopped him, "I think that's enough for today. I expect you to work on your accuracy when you have free time. I would also ask you to practice the position of dueling as often as you can. It needs to become completely natural."

Harry nodded to Acker, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. He was pretty knackered and he had been dreaming about going to bed for the past hour or so. Acker nodded to him and turned around, effectively dismissing him.

He exited the room, picking up his bags at the exit. He began to make his way to his dormitory when he heard some noise coming down the stairs leading down to the dungeons. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but it sounded strangely like a human voice, but one that was unable to really produce any sound.

Harry's curious nature won over his tiredness and he slowly walked down the stairs, his wand held up high in front of him. He whispered _Lumos_ and a small bulb of light appeared on the tip of his wand. He reached down the stairs in a deserted hallway.

Well, almost deserted.

A dark form was stuck on the wall, completely covered in some sort of slime that doubled as a rope to bind and a pretty good sound isolator. He raised his wand higher, trying to identify the victim; after all, it wouldn't do to free a Slytherin from a Gryffindor's trap.

He recognized the features instantly. He had no idea how the hell Don had been tapped to the wall like a fly, but he wasn't going to leave him here to get caught by Filch. He approached the wall and examined the product on the wall. He knew he had already seen that thing somewhere, but he couldn't remember where.

He reached up and grabbed a fistful of the slime and threw it on the ground. The slime on Don immediately spread around, reforming around Don. That wasn't right. It couldn't be a simple object because it reacted. It must be wither enchanted or an obscure spell that someone devised to trap people.

It dawned on him suddenly where he had already seen the slime. He had already seen Fred use it on Ginny as a way to test their Slytherin trapping spell.

"_Vive Gryffindor" _It was ingenious really. Slytherins wouldn't even think to say those words.

The slime fell from around Don, dropping the poor boy on the ground with an audible thud. He started to sputter, trying to spit out some of the slime that entered his mouth.

"Why were you caught in the Weasley's spell?" asked Harry to Don, already knowing the answer.

Don got up from the ground, cleaning himself from the rest of the slime, "I… I don't know! I got up to go to sleep early, and I woke up here!"

Harry shrugged, "Yeah, that was probably Ginny and her brothers getting revenge for whatever you did yesterday."

Don frowned at the wall, "They went a bit overboard. I merely snared Ginny with a slight jelly-leg hex during the night."

Harry gave him an arched eyebrow, "Merely? You weren't supposed to prank Slytherin or something?"

Don waved away Harry's questions, "Nah, that fell through pretty quick. I decided to play a bit of a joke, nothing bad really. It's alright, if she wants a prank war, she got one."

Harry shook his head as they began to make their way toward the Gryffindor tower. He wanted no part of this, especially with the twins involved. That would only spell trouble.

**This isn't my best chapter, but it's a start. From next chapter on, the passing of time will accelerate, because nobody wants to read a 300 000 words monster about his first year. **

**Don't forget to review or to PM me if you have any commentary/critics/fun things to say**

**'Till next time**

**Frecto**


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